milkmaid

noun

milk·​maid ˈmilk-ˌmād How to pronounce milkmaid (audio)

Examples of milkmaid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Was Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum the bee’s knees, the spider’s ankle, or the milkmaid in the cat’s pajamas? Brian T. Allen, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023 Keep your eyes peeled for species like milkmaids (identify with four pale petals), Redwood sorrel (low-growing, white-pink flowers), and Redwood violets (five yellow petals), which like the shaded forest floor. Chelsee Lowe, Travel + Leisure, 29 Mar. 2023 Webster imagines her ancestor’s work as a milkmaid, the trial and her ultimate indenture on a plantation in Maryland where Molly met Bana’ka, the enslaved man who became the father of her children. Maud Newton, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2023 Like Vermeer’s other women, the milkmaid evades trite allegory. Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023 Perhaps Vermeer intended viewers to infer that his milkmaid, too, had love on her mind. Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023 The farmer and his wife adopt the child, and the milkmaid is told to stay away from the boy, who grows up thinking that the farmer’s wife is his mother. Ruth Franklin, The New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2022 Based on the large vessel at her feet, scholars have concluded that the portrait’s subject was likely a servant or milkmaid. Nora McGreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Nov. 2021 Jenner experimented with the cowpox virus, using material from a pox on a milkmaid who had acquired the disease to infect the eight-year-old son of his gardener. Livia Gershon, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 June 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'milkmaid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1552, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of milkmaid was in 1552

Dictionary Entries Near milkmaid

Cite this Entry

“Milkmaid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/milkmaid. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

milkmaid

noun
milk·​maid ˈmilk-ˌmād How to pronounce milkmaid (audio)
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