milk

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 cry¹(3), ⇨ land of milk and honey at land¹(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.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

milk

milk [milk milks milked milking] noun, verb [mɪlk] [mɪlk]

noun uncountable
1. the white liquid produced by cows, goats and some other animals as food for their young and used as a drink by humans
• a pint/litre of milk
• a bottle/carton of milk
• fresh/dried/powdered milk
• Do you take milk in your tea?
• milk products (= butter, cheese, etc.)

2. the white liquid that is produced by women and female mammals for feeding their babies

• breast milk

3. the white juice of some plants and trees, especially the coconut
see also soya milk
more at cry over spilt milk at cry _v., the land of milk and honey at land _n.
Word Origin:
Old English milc, milcian, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch melk and German Milch, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin mulgere and Greek amelgein ‘to milk’.
Example Bank:
• Don't drink the milk— it's off.
• Dried milk keeps better than fluid milk.
• She expressed some milk so her husband could do the night feeding.
• The milk has gone off/turned sour.
• They've stopped delivering milk in our area.
• a calcium-fortified milk which provides more calcium than regular milk
• a can of condensed milk

Idiom: milk of human kindness

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition

milk / mɪlk / noun [ U ]

A1 the white liquid produced by cows, goats, and sheep and used by humans as a drink or for making butter, cheese, etc.:
a glass/carton of milk
cow's/goat's milk
skimmed/pasteurized milk
a milk bottle
the white liquid produced by women and other female mammals as food for their young:
Breast/Mother's milk is the best nourishment for a baby.
the white liquid produced by some plants and trees:
coconut milk

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

milk

[mɪ̱lk]
♦♦♦
milks, milking, milked
1) N-UNCOUNT Milk is the white liquid produced by cows, goats, and some other animals, which people drink and use to make butter, cheese, and yoghurt.
  He popped out to buy a pint of milk.
  ...basic foods such as meat, bread and milk.
  ...empty milk bottles.
2) VERB If someone milks a cow or goat, they get milk from it, using either their hands or a machine.
  [V n] Farm-workers milked cows by hand.
  Derived words:
  milking N-UNCOUNT oft N n ...an automatic milking machine... The evening milking is usually done at about 7.30pm.
3) N-UNCOUNT Milk is the white liquid produced by women to feed their babies.
  Milk from the mother's breast is a perfect food for the human baby.
  Syn:
  breast milk
4) N-MASS Liquid products for cleaning your skin or making it softer are sometimes referred to as milks.
  Sales of cleansing milks, creams and gels have doubled over the past decade.
  Syn:
  lotion
7) PHRASE (disapproval) If you think that someone's suggestions or ideas are weak or sentimental, you can say that they are milk and water. [mainly BRIT]
  Fryer dismisses the report as `milk and water'.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

¹milk /ˈmɪlk/ noun [noncount]
1 : a white liquid produced by a woman to feed her baby or by female animals to feed their young
• mother's/breast milk
• cheese made from sheep's milk especially; : milk from cows or goats that is used as food by people
• a glass of low-fat/whole milk
• serving milk and cookies
• pasteurized/homogenized milk
• whole milk [=milk from which no fat has been removed]
- see also condensed milk, evaporated milk, malted milk, skim milk
2 : a white liquid produced by a plant
• coconut milk
cry over spilled/spilt milk

land of milk and honey

the milk of human kindness literary : kind feelings or behavior toward other people
• He was filled with the milk of human kindness. [=he was filled with kindness; he was very kind]