milk

Etymology 1

From Middle English milk, mylk, melk, mulc, from Old English meolc, meoluc (“milk”), from Proto-West Germanic *meluk, from Proto-Germanic *meluks, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian molke, Dutch melk, Dutch Low Saxon melk, German Milch, German Low German Melk, Yiddish מילך (milkh), Danish mælk, Norwegian Bokmål mjølk, melk, Norwegian Nynorsk mjølk, Swedish mjölk, Icelandic mjólk, Faroese mjólk, Albanian mjel (“to milk”), Polish mleko, Russian молоко́ (molokó), Welsh blith, Tocharian A malke, Lithuanian malkas, Latvian malks, and possibly Ancient Greek μέλκιον (mélkion).

noun

1. (uncountable) A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. From certain animals, especially cows, it is also called dairy milk and is a common food for humans as a beverage or used to produce various dairy products such as butter, cheese, and yogurt.
   Skyr is a product made of curdled milk.
   2007 September 24, Chris Horseman (interviewee), Emily Harris (reporter), “Global Dairy Demand Drives Up Prices”, Morning Edition, National Public Radio […] there's going to be that much less milk available to cover any other uses. Which means whether it's liquid milk or whether it's [milk that's been turned into] cheese or yogurt, the price gets pulled up right across the board.
   In the West it's' fairly normal to drink milk in various forms into adulthood. 2017, Adam Rutherford, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Experiment, page 75
2. (uncountable, by extension) A white (or whitish) liquid obtained from a vegetable source such as almonds, coconuts, oats, rice, and/or soy beans.
   Where it does fall down, however, is its nutritional value. While oats are largely a healthy grain to include in your diet, the milk is highly diluted with water, giving it little nutritional value. 2018-09-16, Alexandra Spring, “'Milk' mania: why most alternatives aren't great – but camel milk just might be”, in The Guardian
   For environmentally minded consumers, the news is hard to swallow: almond milk is not healthy for the planet and the popular milk substitute is especially hard on bees. 2020-01-29, Annette McGivney, “Almonds are out. Dairy is a disaster. So what milk should we drink?”, in The Guardian
3. (countable, informal) An individual serving of milk.
   Table three ordered three milks.
4. (countable or invariant) An individual portion of milk, such as found in a creamer, for tea and coffee.
   I take my tea with two milks and two sugars.
   I take my tea with two milk and two sugar.
   She just sat there drinking cup after cup of strong coffee, with two milks and two sugars. 2014, Don Eggspuehler, Teachings From Pop, Author House, page 459
   Five minutes later, he returned with Justin's large coffee with two milk and two sweeteners and a black coffee for himself. 2015, Carolyn Arnold, City of Gold: (Mathew Connor Adventure Series Book 1), Hibbert & Stiles Publishing Inc.
   Mrs. Dale huffed up to the counter and fired her battle-axe stare at the attendant. “One medium tea. ... Two double-doubles, and one with two milk and two sweeteners.” 2019, Maggie Blackbird, Redeemed: The Matawapit Family Series, #1, eXtasy Books, page 349
   She placed on her desk a brown paper bag; it held her breakfast, cream cheese on a toasted bagel and coffee with two milks and one sugar. 2020, John Mitton, Tedmund and the Murdered Heiress, Page Publishing, Inc
5. The ripe, undischarged spat of an oyster.
6. (uncountable, slang) Semen.

Etymology 2

From Middle English milken, from Old English melcan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-, the same root as the noun. Compare Dutch and German melken, Danish malke, Norwegian mjølke, also Latin mulgeō (“I milk”), Ancient Greek ἀμέλγω (amélgō, “I milk”), Albanian mjel (“to milk”), Russian молоко́ (molokó), Lithuanian mélžti, Tocharian A mālk-.

verb

1. (transitive) To express milk from (a mammal, especially a cow).
   The farmer milked his cows.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To draw (milk) from the breasts or udder.
   to milk wholesome milk from healthy cows
3. (intransitive, transitive, rare) To secrete (milk) from the breasts or udder.
   The black cow milking white milk, black hen on the nest laying white eggs. 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 84
4. (transitive) To express a liquid from a creature.
   The Australian government has a team that regularly milks various snakes for venom to use creating serums and antivenoms.
5. (transitive, figurative) To make excessive use of (a particular point in speech or writing, a source of funds, etc.); to exploit; to take advantage of (something).
   When the audience began laughing, the comedian milked the joke for more laughs.
   July 21, 1877, "The Block in the Courts" in The Spectator They [the lawyers] milk an unfortunate estate as regularly as a dairyman does his stock.
   If nothing else, José Mourinho can be grateful there was no mutiny. He still heard his name being sung and at the final whistle Old Trafford was not too unkind on the manager or his players. He milked it, too, marching over to the Stretford End to thank them for their generosity. 27 August 2018, Daniel Taylor, “Lucas Moura double for Spurs deepens gloom at Manchester United”, in The Guardian (London)
6. (of an electrical storage battery) To give off small gas bubbles during the final part of the charging operation.
7. (transitive, intransitive, sex slang) To single-mindedly masturbate a male to ejaculation, especially for the amusement or satisfaction of the masturbator rather than the person masturbated.
   Controlled milking can actually establish and consolidate a mistress’s dominance over her sub rather than diminish it.
   “No, no, no! When a male is in chas-ti-ty,” (Clive always drew out this word and also slavery, emphasizing every syllable to give it extra importance) “he should receive regular milking to maintain good hygiene.” (Yet more kinky behavior cloaked as healthy living.) “Milking helps flush out the toxins which accumulate within the prostate gland of a chaste male.” 2015, Joyce Snyder, Mistress Pussycat: Adventures with Submissive Men in the World of Femdom, Headpress