milk maids
Dairy farm workers
Milk maids are women who milk cows, a once-common occupation on farms and dairies before mechanization.
The term evokes a pastoral, pre-industrial image—rosy-cheeked young women in aprons carrying pails.
The milk maids rose before dawn to tend the herd.
Now largely historical or nostalgic.
Also spelled as one word: milkmaids.
- dairyMilk-based foods collectively
- dairy farmLivestock operation for milk
- cowsAdult female bovines
- bucketsOpen-top carrying vessels
- apronsTorso coverings for work
churning · butter · cream · pastoral · country life · bonnets · udders · farm · pails · countryside · rustic · dawn · barns · stools · butter churn · wholesome · rosy cheeks · rosy-cheeked
- Alpine CultureAlps, alpine meadows, alpine huts, alpine villages, alphorn
type of pastoral occupation
milk maidsshepherdesses
Women who tend flocks
goatherds · swineherds · plowmen · butchers · hunters
social class and setting
milk maidsladies-in-waiting
Female royal companions
chambermaids · parlor maids · governesses · factory girls · aristocrats