?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 793/26 Hic mulsor, a mylker.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes A milker of goates.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 631 The cattell mourned for want of milkers.

a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 140 In hyringe of mayd servants yow are to make choise of such as are good milkers.

1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. iv. 492 As when the fleecy Flocks unnumber'd stand In wealthy Folds, and wait the Milker's Hand.

1760 J. Beattie tr. Virgil 2nd Pastoral in Orig. Poems & Transl. 125 Th' untended goats shall to their homes repair, And to the milker's hand the loaded udder bear.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 468 The milker sits down as in the common method, fixing the siphon can (pail) firmly between his knees.

1888 A. H. Buck Ref. Handbk. Med. Sci. VI. 33/1 The list of names for the various forms of professional neuroses increases almost every year and now includes..milkers' cramp.

1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles I. xvii. 215 The milkers formed quite a little battalion of men and maids.

1903 Hull & East Yorks. Times 28 Feb. 1/1 Yardman Wanted,..must be good milker.

1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 181 As a boy milker..on our place I became aware of the prevailing bad manners among some cows.

1988 J. C. Bell et al. Zoonoses 57 Cowpox, a rare, benign virus disease... It is an occupational hazard for milkers.

1801 J. Powell Let. in Ann. Agric. (1808) 45 6 The hardiness of the Ryelanders..is proverbial, as milkers.

1847 W. C. L. Martin Ox 41/1 A twin heifer..which..was very handsome, with a well-formed udder, and was a good milker.

1881 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Austral. Grazier's Guide (1994) II. iv. 131 Still less, when in the yard, even though perhaps a ‘milker’ calf, does she elect to walk into the bail.

1886 All Year Round 14 Aug. 34 Weed out the bad milkers, and never keep a cow after her fifth calf.

1901 Rep. Vermont Dairymen's Assoc. 66 A file of a dozen milkers marched down one of the long alleys.

1948 R. Finlayson Tidal Creek 35 Judging which calf will make the best milker.

1988 Yankee Mar. 121/1 I sold the farm—all 240 acres and my herd of over 60 milkers.

1850 Sci. Amer. 21 Sept. 4/3 Knapp's Patent Cow Milker. This is the instrument that almost everybody has heard of, which makes the cows milk themselves.

1862 Morning Star 19 June The construction of the cow-milker is very simple, consisting of two diaphragm pumps, etc.

1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Mar. 81/2 Some years ago a patent milker was invented, and introduced to dairymen to some extent; but it did not prove a success.

1931 H. S. Williams Bk. Marvels 125 The mechanical milker is a boon that every farm-reared man..will be disposed to rank high among beneficent inventions.

1988 B. A. Mason Spence & Lila (1989) vi. 55 She..sees..machines with hoses—like the electric milkers they used to have for the cows.

1891 Cassell's Sat. Jrnl. Sept. 1036/2 When a telegram sent to a specific person is surreptitiously made use of..by others, it is said to have been ‘milked’; and those who thus steal are called ‘milkers’.

1839 John Bull 28 July 354/1 The red-elbowed cow-milkeress of Cornwall.

?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 765/26 Hec lactis, mylkere.