house snake

Milk Milk (m[i^]lk), n. [AS. meoluc, meoloc, meolc, milc; akin to OFries. meloc, D. melk, G. milch, OHG. miluh, Icel. mj[=o]lk, Sw. mj["o]lk, Dan. melk, Goth. miluks, G. melken to milk, OHG. melchan, Lith. milszti, L. mulgere, Gr. 'ame`lgein. [root]107. Cf. {Milch}, {Emulsion}, {Milt} soft roe of fishes.] [1913 Webster] 1. (Physiol.) A white fluid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals for the nourishment of their young, consisting of minute globules of fat suspended in a solution of casein, albumin, milk sugar, and inorganic salts. ``White as morne milk.'' --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

2. (Bot.) A kind of juice or sap, usually white in color, found in certain plants; latex. See {Latex}. [1913 Webster]

3. An emulsion made by bruising seeds; as, the milk of almonds, produced by pounding almonds with sugar and water. [1913 Webster]

4. (Zo["o]l.) The ripe, undischarged spat of an oyster. [1913 Webster]

{Condensed milk}. See under {Condense}, v. t.

{Milk crust} (Med.), vesicular eczema occurring on the face and scalp of nursing infants. See {Eczema}.

{Milk fever}. (a) (Med.) A fever which accompanies or precedes the first lactation. It is usually transitory. (b) (Vet. Surg.) A form puerperal peritonitis in cattle; also, a variety of meningitis occurring in cows after calving.

{Milk glass}, glass having a milky appearance.

{Milk knot} (Med.), a hard lump forming in the breast of a nursing woman, due to obstruction to the flow of milk and congestion of the mammary glands.

{Milk leg} (Med.), a swollen condition of the leg, usually in puerperal women, caused by an inflammation of veins, and characterized by a white appearance occasioned by an accumulation of serum and sometimes of pus in the cellular tissue.

{Milk meats}, food made from milk, as butter and cheese. [Obs.] --Bailey.

{Milk mirror}. Same as {Escutcheon}, 2.

{Milk molar} (Anat.), one of the deciduous molar teeth which are shed and replaced by the premolars.

{Milk of lime} (Chem.), a watery emulsion of calcium hydrate, produced by macerating quicklime in water.

{Milk parsley} (Bot.), an umbelliferous plant ({Peucedanum palustre}) of Europe and Asia, having a milky juice.

{Milk pea} (Bot.), a genus ({Galactia}) of leguminous and, usually, twining plants.

{Milk sickness} (Med.), See {milk sickness} in the vocabulary.

{Milk snake} (Zo["o]l.), a harmless American snake ({Ophibolus triangulus}, or {Ophibolus eximius}). It is variously marked with white, gray, and red. Called also {milk adder}, {chicken snake}, {house snake}, etc.

{Milk sugar}. (Physiol. Chem.) See {Lactose}, and {Sugar of milk} (below).

{Milk thistle} (Bot.), an esculent European thistle ({Silybum marianum}), having the veins of its leaves of a milky whiteness.

{Milk thrush}. (Med.) See {Thrush}.

{Milk tooth} (Anat.), one of the temporary first set of teeth in young mammals; in man there are twenty.

{Milk tree} (Bot.), a tree yielding a milky juice, as the cow tree of South America ({Brosimum Galactodendron}), and the {Euphorbia balsamifera} of the Canaries, the milk of both of which is wholesome food.

{Milk vessel} (Bot.), a special cell in the inner bark of a plant, or a series of cells, in which the milky juice is contained. See {Latex}.

{Rock milk}. See {Agaric mineral}, under {Agaric}.

{Sugar of milk}. The sugar characteristic of milk; a hard white crystalline slightly sweet substance obtained by evaporation of the whey of milk. It is used in pellets and powder as a vehicle for homeopathic medicines, and as an article of diet. See {Lactose}. [1913 Webster]