Definition of "milky"

his sword,Which was declining on the milky headOf reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick:

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]

The Pails high-foaming with a milky Flood,

1715–1720, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “(please specify the book of the Iliad or chapter quoted from)”, in The Iliad of Homer, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], page 267, line 780

[…] some Plants upon breaking their Vessels yield a milky Juice; others a Yellow of peculiar Tastes and Qualities.

1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay concerning the Nature of Aliments, London: J. Tonson, Chapter 3, Prop. 3, p. 51

[…] the kind, slightly milky odour of cattle […]

1928, Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness‎, Book One, Chapter Three, 3

She wheels her gaze from the wall on to me. The black irises are set off by milky whites as clear as a child’s.

1980, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 2, in Waiting for the Barbarians, Penguin, published 1999, pages 37–38

Mrs. Anthony, their daily housekeeper, brought in the milky coffee and placed it on the breakfast table.

1959, Muriel Spark, chapter 1, in Memento Mori‎, New York: New Directions, published 2000, page 13

[…] we sat down […] to the old crack crack crack of eggs and the crackle crunch crunch of this black toast, very milky chai standing by in bolshy great morning mugs.

1963 , Anthony Burgess, chapter 5, in A Clockwork Orange, New York: W. W. Norton, page 156

Shot up from broad rank blades that droop below, / The nodding WHEAT-EAR forms a graceful bow, / With milky kernels starting full, weigh’d down, / Ere yet the sun hath ting’d its head with brown;

1800, Robert Bloomfield, The Farmer’s Boy, London: Vernor & Hood et al., “Summer,” p. 30

[…] the servile Eries were staggering out of the corn fields laden with ripe ears; and the famished soldiers were shouting and cursing at them and tearing the corn from their arms to gnaw the raw and milky grains.

1914, Robert W. Chambers, chapter 19, in The Hidden Children‎, New York: Appleton, page 575

The birds perch on the sorghum heads and try to eat them but the dry seed falls to the ground. The birds can only peck it out of the sorghum head when it is still milky and green.

1981, Martin Morolong, “The Old-Style Calendar” in Bessie Head, Serowe: Village of the Rain Wind, London: Heinemann

Has friendship such a faint and milky heart?

c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]

‘Who said there was going to be any killing?’ The lightning flared up and showed his tight shabby jacket, the bunch of soft hair at the nape. ‘I’ve got a date, that’s all. You be careful what you say, Spicer. You aren’t milky, are you?’‘I’m not milky. You got me wrong, Pinkie. I just don’t want another killing […] ’

1938, Graham Greene, Brighton Rock‎, Vintage, published 2002, Part , Chapter , pp. 45-46

The boycott of Florida orange juice, while coming from genuine feelings, is basically a milky-liberal response to an issue that needs united, vocal, public action.

1977 April 23, Ken Withers, “No Boycott”, in Gay Community News, page 5

Gone is your fighting Youth, whom you have bredFrom milkie Childhood to the years of bloud!

1651, William Davenant, Gondibert‎, London: John Holden, Book 2, Canto 3, Stanza 48, p. 101

There were the everlasting hills around, even as they had grown for countless ages, beneath the still depths of the primeval chalk ocean, in the milky youth of this great English land.

1851, Charles Kingsley, chapter 1, in Yeast‎, London: John W. Parker, page 15

“I am no milky, modest, obedient youth, Constance. […] ”

1882, Walter Besant, chapter 2, in The Revolt of Man‎, London: Blackwood, page 45

He got so thoroughly into the jocund spirit that he didn’t much mind seeing Tanis drooping against the shoulder of the youngest and milkiest of the young men […]

1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 29, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, section III, page 337

As great a noyse, as when in Cymbrian plaineAn heard of Bulles, whom kindly rage doth sting,Doe for the milky mothers want complaine,And fill the fieldes with troublous bellowing,

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

[…] ye heare the Lamb by many a bleatWoo’d to come suck the milkie Teat:

1648, Robert Herrick, “A Country Life”, in Hesperides‎, London: John Williams and Francis Eglesfield, page 37