milk

(it's/there's) no use crying over spilt milk

It does no good to get upset over a bad decision or unfortunate event that has already come to pass and cannot be changed. We were pretty disappointed to have lost the championship game, but there's no use crying over spilt milk. We just have to train harder for next season! I know you really wanted that job, but you weren't hired, so it's no use crying over spilt milk now. I was such a fool to take out that second mortgage. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk!

(there's) no point crying over spilt milk

It does no good to get upset over a bad decision or unfortunate event that has already come to pass and cannot be changed. We were pretty disappointed to have lost the championship game, but there's no point crying over spilt milk. We just have to train harder for next season! I was such a fool to take out that second mortgage. Oh well, no point crying over spilt milk!

cry over spilt milk

To be upset over something that cannot be fixed, often something minor. Please calm down, you're just crying over spilt milk. We already submitted the report, so we can't fix it now. A: "Why is Hannah so upset?" B: "Oh, she's just crying over spilt milk. She just fell down and ripped her stockings—she'll be fine."

don't cry over spilled milk

Don't be upset over something that cannot be fixed, often something minor. Don't cry over spilled milk—we already submitted the report, so we can't fix it now. Oh, honey, you just fell down and ripped your stockings. You'll be fine, don't cry over spilled milk.

milk the ram

To do or attempt something futile (as milking a male sheep would be). Studying for this class is like milking the ram—I'm just not going to get it.

cry over spilled milk

Fig. to be unhappy about what cannot be undone. (See also It's no use crying over spilled milk.) He is always crying over spilled milk. He cannot accept reality. It can't be helped. Don't cry over spilled milk.

It's no use crying over spilled milk.

and Don't cry over spilled milk.

Prov. Do not be upset about making a mistake, since you cannot change that now. I know you don't like your new haircut, but you can't change it now. It's no use crying over spilled milk. OK, so you broke the drill I lent you. Don't cry over spilled milk.

milk of human kindness

Fig. natural kindness and sympathy shown to others. (From Shakespeare's play Macbeth, I. v.) Mary is completely hard and selfish—she doesn't have the milk of human kindness in her. Roger is too full of the milk of human kindness and people take advantage of him.

milk someone for something

Fig. to pressure someone into giving information or money. The reporter milked the mayor's aide for information. The thief milked me for $20.

Why buy a cow when you can get milk for free?

and Why buy a cow when milk is so cheap?

Prov. Why pay for something that you can get for free otherwise. (Sometimes used to describe someone who will not marry because sex without any commitment is so easy to obtain. Jocular and crude.) I don't have a car because someone always gives me a ride to work. Why buy a cow when you can get milk for free? Mary told her daughter, "You may think that boy will marry you because you're willing to sleep with him, but why should he buy a cow if he can get milk for free?"

land of milk and honey

an imaginary place where there is more than enough of everything She came to the United States thinking it was the land of milk and honey.

Etymology: from the Bible story in which the Lord promises to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into a land flowing with milk and honey

It's no good/use crying over spilt milk.

also There's no point crying over spilt milk.

something that you say which means you should not get upset about something bad that has happened that you cannot change Sometimes I regret not taking that job in London. Oh well, there's no point crying over spilt milk.

the land of milk and honey

a country where people from other countries would like to live because they imagine that the living conditions are excellent and it is easy to make money People in poorer parts of the world still look on the States as the land of milk and honey.

See land on feet, land one

the milk of human kindness

(literary)

being good and kind to other people

Usage notes: This phrase comes from Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth'.

She's one of those amazing people who's just overflowing with the milk of human kindness.

cry over spilt milk, don't

Also, no use crying over spilt milk. Don't regret what cannot be undone or rectified, as in The papers you wanted went out in last week's trash, so don't cry over spilt milk. This metaphor for the inability to recover milk once it has been spilled is very old indeed, already appearing as a proverb in James Howell's Paroimiografia (1659). It is sometimes shortened to spilt milk.

milk of human kindness, the

Compassion, sympathy, as in There's no milk of human kindness in that girl-she's totally selfish. This expression was invented by Shakespeare in Macbeth (1:5), where Lady Macbeth complains that her husband "is too full of the milk of human kindness" to kill his rivals.

milk

1. tv. to attempt to persuade an audience to laugh or applaud. She went on milking the crowd for adulation long after they had demonstrated their appreciation.

2. tv. to attempt to get recognition from an audience. His performance was marred by an amateurish attempt to milk applause.

milk a duck

tv. to do [or not do] something totally impossible. She can’t do that. That’s harder than milking a duck.

tiger sweat

and tiger juice and tiger(‘s) milk

n. bad liquor; strong liquor; any beer or liquor. (Older.) This tiger milk would kill a tiger of any age or disposition. Give me some of that tiger juice, will ya?

tiger‘s milk

verb

See tiger sweat

tiger milk

verb

See tiger sweat

cry over spilled milk

To regret in vain what cannot be undone or rectified.

milk it

To take advantage of the help or kindness of others, as when one acts as if one still needs help after recovering from an illness.

milk of human kindness

Compassion or benevolence. Shakespeare again, but this time Macbeth. Lady Macbeth regrets that her husband doesn't have the overwhelming ambition that she has by saying, “Yet do I fear thy nature, It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way.” Macbeth heeds his wife, schemes and murders his way to the throne, and is then deposed and killed. The milk must have curdled. A compliment to a sweetheart of a person is to say that he or she is “full of the milk of human kindness.”

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Keturah	ki-TOOR-ə (English), kee-TYOOR-ə (English)	Biblical
Ayishah	-	Arabic
Cameron	['kæmərən]
Tadeu	-	Portuguese
Reino	RAY-no	Finnish
Gregor	GRE-gawr (German)	German, Scottish, Slovak, Slovene