milk
Americannoun
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milks
plural
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an opaque white or bluish-white liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, serving for the nourishment of their young.
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this liquid as secreted by cows, goats, or certain other animals and used by humans for food or as a source of butter, cheeses, yogurt, etc.
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a glass, carton, etc., of cow's milk.
We ordered two milks for the children.
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any liquid resembling the milk of animals, as the liquid within a coconut, the juice or sap of certain plants, or various pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations: a gentle cleansing milk for your skin.
the milk of the rubber tree;
a gentle cleansing milk for your skin.
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a whitish, potable liquid made of ground nuts, legumes, seeds, or grain blended with water and often a sweetener, used especially as a substitute for dairy milk, its main ingredient as specified: almond milk; rice milk.
nut milks;
almond milk;
oat milk;
rice milk.
verb (used with object)
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milks,
present (3rd person singular)
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milked,
past participle, past
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milking
present participle
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to press or draw milk from the udder or breast of.
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to get something from, especially in a way that exploits or defrauds.
The swindler milked her of all her savings.
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to elicit or draw out a response from someone: The interview was an attempt to milk some sympathy out of what should have been a private tragedy.
He knows how to milk an audience for laughs.
The interview was an attempt to milk some sympathy out of what should have been a private tragedy.
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to extract with effort as if by milking; squeeze.
He always has to milk the last bit of toothpaste from the tube.
She tried to milk a few more billable hours out of the contract.
verb (used without object)
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milks,
present (3rd person singular)
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milked,
past participle, past
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milking
present participle
-
to yield milk, as a cow.
We called the vet when two of our Holsteins suddenly stopped milking.
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to milk a cow or other mammal.
idioms
noun
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a whitish nutritious fluid produced and secreted by the mammary glands of mature female mammals and used for feeding their young until weaned
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the milk of cows, goats, or other animals used by man as a food or in the production of butter, cheese, etc
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any similar fluid in plants, such as the juice of a coconut
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any of various milklike pharmaceutical preparations, such as milk of magnesia
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to lament something that cannot be altered
verb
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to draw milk from the udder of (a cow, goat, or other animal)
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(intr) (of cows, goats, or other animals) to yield milk
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(tr) to draw off or tap in small quantities
to milk the petty cash
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(tr) to extract as much money, help, etc, as possible from
to milk a situation of its news value
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(tr) to extract venom, sap, etc, from
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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milksimple
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milkssimple
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have milkedperfect
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has milkedperfect
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am milkingprogressive
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are milkingprogressive
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is milkingprogressive
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have been milkingperfect progressive
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has been milkingperfect progressive
Past
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milkedsimple
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had milkedperfect
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was milkingprogressive
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were milkingprogressive
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had been milkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of milk
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English meol(o)ic, (Anglian) milc; cognate with German Milch, Old Norse mjōlk, Gothic miluks; akin to Latin mulgēre, Greek amélgein “to milk”
Explanation
Milk is the white liquid that female mammals produce for feeding their babies. Nursing human mothers feed their infants milk, and so do mother goats, cows, dogs, and cats. If you love to drink milk, you're probably a fan of the kind that comes from cows on farms and is sold in grocery stores. However, if you're allergic to this kind of milk, you might drink one of the beverages also known as milk that are made from soaking beans, nuts, rice, or even coconut in water until it becomes rich, white, and milky. To milk is to extract or draw milk from a plant or animal.
Vocabulary lists containing milk
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Emma said donating her breast milk had been "such a worthwhile thing to do".
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Lactoferrin is an immune protein present in almost every body fluid except blood, including breast milk, tears, saliva, snot, and intestinal mucus.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
At Meituan’s headquarters, Cheng ordered pearl milk tea on her phone, delivered by drone, before the company’s chairman, Wang Xing, presented her with the kangaroo mascot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
That’s my favorite coffee in L.A., and they make their own macadamia almond milk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Slop’s face curdled up like sour milk, and he pointed a fat, hairy finger down at me.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Driving the interest are several fast-proliferating chains that offer probiotic-rich yogurts made with cultured milks that contain healthy bacteria.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Don’t have a lot, and please don’t put milks and stuff in it.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026
Drinks high in sugar can include fizzy sodas, energy drinks, sweetened juices, squashes, sweetened tea and coffee, and flavored milks.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 18, 2026
Utter asininity is the bread and butter of “The Naked Gun,” and the movie milks cop idiocy for all its worth.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2025
I cancel one of the milks and put the carton into a bag.
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
Over the weekend, a supremely happy-seeming Dudamel, before heading to the New York Philharmonic in a couple weeks, milked the thanks in a back-to-the-Bowl, four-night blowout.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
And in a world where sports rivalries are now commoditized, sanitized, and milked for every last ounce of monetizable content, the rarity of Argentina vs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
“One Shining Moment” is another man’s darkness, and so it was that after Michigan’s 69-63 title victory over UConn Monday night, Mara unwittingly milked his co-starring role in the tournament’s annual music video compilation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
"We are trying to create an economically viable climate-neutral system," said Padraig Walsh, project manager at Farm Zero C, where 250 cows are milked.
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2025
“I milked more in the field. Put it in the cellar, will you?”
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
When bovine TB led to the loss of his entire herd, dairy farmer Mervyn Kelso struggled with the sadness of the empty fields and the silence of the milking yard.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
For card issuers, it means walking a fine line between stopping people from milking perks in a way that wasn’t intended, while also being careful not to upset some of their most valuable customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The steady pulsing of milking machines mingled with a thumping musical beat as McAfee marched down the rows, pointing to their light pink udders.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
“But he said no cows. He might have been traumatized by the early mornings and milking twice a day.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
She is still giving almost a gallon at each milking.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
