Definition

Adjective 1. Affected by milk sickness: Describes a person or animal suffering from the illness known as milk sickness. 2. Related to milk sickness: Describes something connected with or characteristic of this illness.

Usage

The term is used to describe the condition of being poisoned by consuming milk or meat from an animal that has eaten the white snakeroot plant. It is a historical/medical term.

Examples

• The milk-sick cow was isolated from the rest of the herd.
• Pioneers in the 19th century sometimes became milk-sick after drinking contaminated milk.
• The veterinarian diagnosed the calf as milk-sick.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in historical contexts, particularly regarding 19th-century American frontier settlements.
• It can be used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like 'was' or 'became').

Variants and Related Words

• Milk sickness (n): The illness itself, caused by the toxin tremetol.
• Tremetol poisoning (n): Another name for milk sickness, referring to the specific toxin.

Synonyms

• Poisoned (by tremetol)
• Afflicted with milk sickness

Notes

• 'Milk-sick' is a compound adjective formed from 'milk' and 'sick'. The related noun is 'milk sickness'.
• This condition was historically significant and is famously linked to the death of Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.

Adjective

1. affected with or related to milk sickness