I. milk 1 S2 W3 /mɪlk/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: meolc , milc ]
1 . [uncountable] a white liquid produced by cows or goats that is drunk by people:
a bottle of milk
Would you like some milk in your tea?
a pint of semi-skimmed milk
2 . [uncountable] a white liquid produced by female animals and women for feeding their babies:
mothers who believe that breast milk is best for their babies
The tiny fox cubs drink nothing but their mother’s milk.
3 . [uncountable] a liquid or juice produced by particular plants, especially the ↑ coconut
4 . [uncountable and countable] a thin white liquid used to clean or protect skin SYN lotion :
a mild facial cleansing milk
5 . the milk of human kindness literary the kind and sympathetic behaviour of most ordinary people
⇨ ↑ evaporated milk , ⇨ cry over spilt milk at ↑ cry 1 (3), ⇨ land of milk and honey at ↑ land 1 (8)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ drink milk
Drinking milk keeps your bones strong.
▪ have/take milk (=drink milk in your tea or coffee)
Do you take milk in your coffee?
▪ pour milk
She poured some milk into a saucepan.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + milk
▪ sour (=not fresh)
Milk turns sour very quickly in hot weather.
▪ fresh
She made me drink a glass of fresh milk.
▪ cold
I can only drink milk if it’s really cold.
▪ hot/warm
Can I have a cup of warm milk please?
▪ pasteurized (=milk that has been heated to kill harmful bacteria)
a type of cheese made from pasteurized milk
▪ homogenized (=milk that has had the cream mixed into the milk)
Most milk sold in stores is homogenized milk.
▪ whole milk ( also full-fat milk British English ) (=milk that has not had any fat taken out)
The ice cream is made from whole milk.
▪ semi-skimmed milk British English ( also low-fat milk ) (=milk that has had some of the fat taken out)
Adults should drink semi-skimmed milk rather than whole milk.
▪ skimmed milk British English , skim milk/nonfat milk American English (=milk that has had all the fat taken out)
a bowl of cereal with skim milk
▪ long-life milk British English (=specially treated milk that you can keep for a long time)
I’ve got a carton of long-life milk in the cupboard.
▪ powdered milk ( also dry milk American English )
Powdered milk is useful for camping trips.
▪ baby/formula milk (=milk in powder form for babies)
Many babies are fed formula milk.
■ milk + NOUN
▪ milk bottle
Put the empty milk bottles into the crates.
▪ milk carton (=a plastic or cardboard container in which milk is sold)
containers such as milk cartons and soap powder boxes
▪ milk jug
She put the butter, jam and milk jug on the table.
▪ milk powder
hot water mixed with milk powder
■ phrases
▪ a glass of milk
Would you like a glass of milk?
▪ a bottle of milk
I accidentally knocked over a bottle of milk.
▪ a pint of milk
I need to buy a pint of milk.
II. milk 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . informal to get as much money or as many advantages as you can from a situation, in a very determined and sometimes dishonest way
milk somebody/something for something
Their landlord regularly milks them for extra money by claiming for damage to his property.
He seems to be milking the incident for all it’s worth (=getting as much from it as possible) .
2 . to take milk from a cow or goat:
I helped to milk the cows.
—milking noun [uncountable] :
They had risen at 5.30 to do the milking.