subs. (venery).—SPENDINGS (q.v.).
1669. AUBREY, MS. Aubr., 21.
| Her breath is sweet as the rose in June, | |
| Her skin is as soft as silk, | |
| And if you tickle her in the flank | |
| She’ll freely give down her MILK. |
Verb. (venery).—1. To cause ejaculation. Cf. MILKMAN.
1610. JONSON, The Alchemist, iii. 2. For she must MILK his epididimis.
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, iii. 108.
| May teach her how to Sleep all Night, | |
| And take a great deal more Delight, | |
| To MILK the cows than thee. |
2. (old).—To plunder.
d. 1536. TYNDALL, Workes, p. 365. And to ayde the kyng in hys right must the commons be MILKED till they blede agayne.
1605. JONSON, Volpone, or the Fox, i. 1. This three year I have MILKED their hopes.
1808. JAMIESON, An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, s.v. MILK.
3. (old racing).—To bet against a horse, which is one’s own property but is not meant to win; to keep him a favourite, at short odds, for a race in which he has no chance whatever, or in which he will not be run.
1862. Times, 2 Jan., p. 8, col. 6. If men of fortune and honour will permit their pastime to be sullied by such tricks as MILKING—by keeping a horse a favorite at short odds for a race in which he has no chance whatever, only to lay against him—etc.
1863. Fraser’s Magazine, Dec. ‘The English Turf.’ MILKING then is an expressive term for getting as much as possible out of a horse.
1869. W. BRADWOOD, The O. V. H., xx. They’ll accuse you—or rather me, for he’s entered in my name and colours—of MILKING right and left…. It’s far simpler to let him run for the public money, and save a jaw and a long explanation.
1870. The Field, 14 May, ‘The Present Condition of the Turf.’ We are not in the habit of producing examples of the proceedings at our race meetings, which are in vulgar language described as MILKING and roping, because we believe them to be so common that it would be unjust to select any one in particular for animadversion.
1871. Fun, 4 Nov. MILKING we fear is inseparably connected with the turf; we noted that sporting journals of the highest class picked ‘the cream’ of the autumn handicaps.
1888. Referee, 11 Oct. The assumption that no horse other than Paradox has ever been MILKED in open market, and many thousands of pounds made out of the transaction, is a trifle too Utopian for present emergencies.
4. (general).—To get possession by artifice: as, TO MILK a telegram = to get access to it before the addressee. Cf. MILKER, sense 1.
1860. G. B. PRESCOTT, The Speaking Telephone, etc., p. 108. The rapidity and simplicity of the means by which a wire could be MILKED, without being cut or put out of circuit, struck the whole of the party engaged in the various trials.
1869. Times, 14 Aug. [quoted in BREWER’S Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, s.v. ‘Telegram’]. They receive their telegrams in cipher to avoid the risk of their being MILKED by rival journals.
1871. Milk Journal. MILKING the wires is telegraphic slang for tapping the wires…. In India wires have been MILKED for fraudulent commercial purposes.
1884. The Saturday Review, 10 May, p. 607. The Central News telegram, if it was MILKED at all, was MILKED through the medium of Sir C. Wilson’s, etc.
5. (old).—To exhaust; to drain.
1648. E. SYMMONS, A Vindication of King Charles 110. Though perhaps they have been pilled and MILKED a few yeares longer, by these new-State men it will be confessed that the Old government, (viz. that of the King) was far the better and more easie.
TO GIVE DOWN MILK, verb. phr. (old).—To pay.
1655. H. L’ESTRANGE, The Reign of King Charles, p. 187. The City was sullen, would not GIVE DOWN THEIR MILK, and pleaded want of Trade and poverty.
TO MILK THE PIGEON, verb. phr. (common).—To attempt impossibilities: cf. PIGEON’S MILK.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
TO MILK THE STREET, verb. phr. (American).—To hold stock so well in hand as to make it fluctuate as you will.
1870. J. K. MEDBERY, Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, 336. There is an essential distinction between the cliques and the brokers…. Great operators … rob the brokers by destroying their customers. To use the slang of the financial quarter, they ‘MILK THE STREET.’
1876. New York Tribune [BARTLETT]. The majority of stocks are still blocked, and the market, so far as possible, worked entirely upon the MILKING process.
TO MILK OVER THE FENCE, verb. phr. (common).—See quot.
1871. Milk Journal, Sept. Stealing milk from neighbours’ cows is … known as MILKING OVER THE FENCE.
NO MILK IN THE COCOA-NUT, adj. phr. (common).—Silly or crazed. For synonyms, see APARTMENTS TO LET.
BRISTOL-MILK. See BRISTOL.
