Definition

1. Noun:

   • A white liquid food: A nutritious white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to feed their young, especially consumed by humans from cows, goats, or other animals.
   • A milklike liquid: Any similar-looking, often white, nutritious liquid produced by plants or other sources (e.g., "coconut milk").

2. Verb:

   • To draw milk: To extract milk from a female mammal, such as a cow or goat.
   • To exploit or draw something out: To take full advantage of a situation or resource, often in a persistent or excessive way.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • She poured a glass of cold milk for breakfast.
  • The recipe calls for one cup of almond milk.

• Verb:

  • The farmer gets up early to milk the cows.
  • The comedian milked the joke for several more minutes, making the audience laugh even harder.

Advanced Usage

• "to cry over spilt milk": To waste time feeling upset about something that has already happened and cannot be changed.

  • Yes, we made a mistake, but there's no use crying over spilt milk. Let's find a solution.

• "the milk of human kindness": Compassion, sympathy, or benevolence.

  • He is known for his generosity and the milk of human kindness.

Variants and Related Words

• Milky (adj): Resembling milk in color or cloudiness; containing milk.

  • The tea had a milky appearance.

• Milker (n): A person or machine that milks animals.

  • The new automatic milker made the farmer's job easier.

Synonyms

• Noun: Dairy, cream (in specific contexts).
• Verb: Extract, drain, exploit, utilize.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Milk something for all it's worth: To exploit a situation, idea, or resource to the maximum possible extent.
  • The studio is milking the success of the first movie for all it's worth by making three sequels.

Related Idioms

• Land of Milk and Honey: A place of abundance and prosperity.

  • Many immigrants saw America as a land of milk and honey.

• It's no use crying over spilt milk: A proverb advising against regretting past mistakes.

  • I know you're disappointed about the missed opportunity, but it's no use crying over spilt milk.

Noun

1. any of several nutritive milklike liquids
2. a river that rises in the Rockies in northwestern Montana and flows eastward to become a tributary of the Missouri River
3. produced by mammary glands of female mammals for feeding their young
4. a white nutritious liquid secreted by mammals and used as food by human beings

Verb

1. add milk to
   • milk the tea
2. exploit as much as possible
   • I am milking this for all it's worth
3. take milk from female mammals
   • Cows need to be milked every morning