drawing milk from a cow or other animal; extracting or taking advantage of something to get maximum benefit.
From Old English 'meolc' or 'milc' (milk), from Proto-Germanic roots. The word's extension to mean 'exploiting' came from the idea of extracting as much as possible from something.
Cows produce more milk when they're calm and handled gently—a phenomenon called the 'let-down reflex' where oxytocin release is triggered by comfort, showing that animal emotion directly affects productivity in ways farmers have known for centuries.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.