Milch
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Used to produce milk; dairy. dated, not-comparable
"so many cattle […] old cows and young cows; meek-eyed milch cows and fierce […] Texas steers."
- 2 Currently producing milk for its offspring. dated, not-comparable
"She wildly breaketh from their strict embrace / Like a milch doe, whose swelling dugs do ache / Hasting to feed her fawn, hid in some break."
- 3 Tender; pitiful; weeping. not-comparable, obsolete
- 1 giving milk; bred or suitable primarily for milk production wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau: two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten of their foals."
Etymology
From Middle English milche, melche, from Old English *melċe, *milċe (attested in þrimilċe, þrimelċes mōnaþ), from Proto-Germanic *milkijaz, *melkijaz from Proto-Germanic *melkaz (“milky, milk-giving”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to wipe, wipe off, milk”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian meelk (“milch”), Low German melke (“milch”), German melk (“milk-giving, milch”), Alemannic German mëlch (“milch, milkable”), Icelandic milkur, mjólkur (“milk-giving”). More at milk. Compare milchig.
Related phrases
More for "milch"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.