How to Use milkmaid in a Sentence

milkmaid

noun
  • And the wet, laboring fingers of the milkmaids, and the milk smell of his wife.
    — Daniel Mason, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024
  • Trust us, these low-lying plaits aren't for your average milkmaid.
    — Jihan Forbes, Allure, 17 July 2017
  • 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
  • The look was, fittingly, very French milkmaid from the 1700s.
    — Teen Vogue, 16 Aug. 2019
  • Perhaps Vermeer intended viewers to infer that his milkmaid, too, had love on her mind.
    — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023
  • And this season’s dress trends are bringing some fresh excitement — from drop-waist frocks and milkmaid styles to summery crochet maxis.
    — Ebony-Renee Baker, refinery29.com, 6 May 2024
  • Pair your necklace with one of the whimsical milkmaid dresses above for summer soireés or a coquette swimsuit to lounge poolside.
    — Victoria Montalti, refinery29.com, 14 June 2024
  • 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 inoculated an 8-year-old boy using matter from a cowpox sore on the hand of a milkmaid.
    — Chris Mueller, Austin American-Statesman, 29 Nov. 2024
  • The mom of three matched her corset, milkmaid-style top and frilly hot pants to her husband's white shirt, with the pair also donning cowboy boots and hats for the occasion.
    — Becca Longmire, PEOPLE, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Brittany and Patrick opted for coordinating looks, with the mom of three matching her corset, milkmaid-style top and frilly hot pants to her husband’s white shirt.
    — Kirsty Hatcher, PEOPLE, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Like Vermeer’s other women, the milkmaid evades trite allegory.
    — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023
  • 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
  • Lugging the Stanley Cup like a milkmaid with her yoke can work for a bit, but soon Alex Ovechkin’s shoulder muscles begin to ache.
    — Alex Prewitt, SI.com, 11 June 2018
  • Image In a pale prairie dress styled with blond wavy hair, the singer conjured an effortlessly glamorous milkmaid while performing with Arca.
    — Anthony Rotunno, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
  • Big sis Kendall also showed up with her man candy Ben Simmons, continuing her lime green holiday theme in a neon milkmaid top and leather pants.
    — Kelsey Stiegman, Seventeen, 2 Jan. 2019
  • 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
  • At the Moschino runway show in June, Rowan took an edgier approach to milkmaid dressing, wearing a two-piece rococo-print fit with platform heels.
    — Teen Vogue, 16 Aug. 2019
  • In an experiment that today would warrant steep criminal charges, Jenner took pus from the scab of a milkmaid and inserted it into an incision on the arm of an 8-year-old boy.
    — Robert Kuznia, CNN, 13 May 2020
  • It was inspired in the 1800s by the observation that milkmaids did not develop tuberculosis.
    — Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2020
  • From all sides, the contours of the original house remained visible through the metal—the architectural equivalent of one of Vermeer’s milkmaids dressing up as a robot.
    — Carolina A. Miranda, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2025
  • The protagonist, one Reginald Bunthorne, is a foppish aesthete who’s gained star status but is frustrated in his attempts to win the heart of the titular milkmaid Patience.
    — Randy McMullen, The Mercury News, 8 Feb. 2017
  • Honestly, the choices are staggering, from lightweight linen minis and flowy maxis for last-minute getaways or destination weddings to slinky slips for date nights and versatile milkmaid styles for transitional dressing.
    — Esther Newman, Refinery29, 12 Aug. 2025
  • Some staples of a coquette style included milkmaid tops, baby doll dresses, tights, ruffles and pastel colors, often inspired by the Victorian Regency era.
    — Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 13 Aug. 2024
  • Take, for instance, a scene featuring a woman in a kind of avant-garde milkmaid ensemble confronting a monstrously tall figure that, upon close examination, is actually a child perched atop a man’s shoulders, wearing a long trench coat.
    — Chris Wiley, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2026
  • At the end of the 18th century, British physician Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had suffered a mild disease called cowpox often seemed to be untouched by another much worse one—smallpox.
    — National Geographic, 19 May 2020
  • Spiritual meaning of Holi Holi celebrations can also include the enactment of playful interactions between the Hindu god Lord Krishna and Radha and the gopis, or milkmaids.
    — Yvette Orozco, Houston Chronicle, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Depending on rainfall and temperature, the first-comers include milkmaids, shooting stars, and Indian warriors, followed by California poppies, bush poppies, fiesta flowers, monkey flowers, baby blue eyes, and bush lupine, and finally the heat-loving clarkias, orchids, penstemon, and roses.
    — Deb Hopewell, AFAR Media, 29 Jan. 2026

Some of 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.

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