Forms: 1 hwæʓ, hweʓ, hwæiʓ, 3 weȝe, wei, hwey, 4 qwhey, 4–5 wheye, 5–6 way, 5–7 (9 dial.) whay, 6 qway, quay, Sc. quhay(e, 6–7 whaye, wey, 9 dial. whew, 5– whey. [OE. hwæʓ, hweʓ = OFris. *wei, (WFris. waei, NFris. wâi, EFris. wôi), MDu. wey (Du. wei, LG. wei, waje):—OTeut. *χwajo-, of which an ablaut-variant is found in MLG. huy, hoie (LG. hui, hoi, Du. hui):—*χujo-.]
1. The serum or watery part of milk which remains after the separation of the curd by coagulation, esp. in the manufacture of cheese.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), S 272. Serum, hwæʓ.
a. 1050. Rect. Sing. Pers., § 14 (Liebermann), 451. Sceaphyrdes riht is, þæt he hæbbe … blede fulle hweʓes oððe syringe ealne sumor.
12[?]. Sidonius Glosses (Anecd. Oxon.), I. v. 34/3. Hoc serum, i. weȝe.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1009 (Cotton MS.). Hi drinkeþ milc & wei [Jesus MS. hwey] þar to.
13[?]. in Rel. Ant., I. 9/2. Cerum, i. quidam liquor, qwhey.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 200. A purgacioun with gotis whey.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 56. Take croddys of þe deye, & wryng owt þe whey.
1549. Compl. Scot., vi. 43. Thai maid grit cheir of … curdis and quhaye.
1587. Mascall, Cattle, Oxen (1596), 56. See … that your cheese be well and close gathered, in pressing foorth cleane all the whay.
1600. Surflet, Country Farm, I. xiv. 90. The whaie may serue for the feeding of the hogs and dogs.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, in Aliments, etc. I. 252. Of all Drinks, Whey is the most relaxing.
1791. Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), I. vi. 183. My uncle drinks the whey here, as I do ever since I understood it was brought to his bedside every morning at six, by a very pretty dairy-maid.
1893. J. P. Sheldon, Brit. Dairying, xv. 163. On dairy farms where cheese and butter are made, pigs are useful to consume whey and skim-milk.
b. with qualification: whey of butter, buttermilk; alum whey, whey formed in the coagulation of milk by powdered alum; celery whey, mustard whey (MUSTARD sb. 3 c), sack whey (SACK sb.3 2), wine whey, names of beverages or medicinal drinks; white whey (see quot. 1837).
1530. Palsgr., 288/1. Whay of butter, babeure.
1733. Cheyne, Eng. Malady, III. i. (1734), 268. To drink plentifully of small Sack Whey, or Water-Gruel.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 80. Drink half a Pint of Cellery Whey.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Engl. Housekpr. (1778), 313. To make Wine Whey. Put a pint of skimmed milk, and half a pint of white wine into a bason.
1784. J. Potter, Virtuous Villagers, II. 88. Wine and mustard wheys.
1837. Brit. Husb., II. 424 (Libr. Usef. Knowl.). That which is pressed by hand from the curd, is termed ‘white whey,’ and contains a considerable portion of oily matter.
1856. Emerson, Engl. Traits, xiv. 246. The making a better sick-chair and a better wine-whey for an invalid.
1883. Mrs. G. L. Banks, Forbidden to Marry, I. viii. 156. To prepare a whey of alum-and-milk to bathe affected feet!
† 2. The serum of the blood. Obs.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, V. 82. The whay of bloud ought by the reynes to be strayned out.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 95. The whey is deriued by the vreters into the bladder.
1718. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos., I. v. § 4. The aforemention’d Food mixes itself with another Humour, Water, or Whey, which the Anatomists call the Lympha.
3. attrib. and Comb., as whey-bath, -colo(u)r, -curd, -house, -lead (LEAD sb.1 5), -pot, -tub; whey-drinker; whey-colo(u)r(ed), -like adjs.; in reference to the pale color of whey, as whey beard, countenance, face; whey-bearded, -pale adjs.; whey-bacon, bacon from a whey-pig; whey-beard, (a) a person having a ‘whey beard’; (b) the whitethroat, Sylvia cinerea; whey-bird, the woodlark, Alauda arborea; also = whey-beard (b); † whey-blooded a., cowardly; † whey-brained a., weak-brained; whey-brose, brose made with whey instead of water; whey-butter, butter made from whey or from whey-cream; whey-cream, the cream that remains in the whey after the curd has been removed; whey-drop, -eye, -spring, a hole in an imperfectly pressed cheese in which the whey collects; whey-face, a person having a pale face; so whey-faced a.; whey-pig, a pig fed with whey; whey-porridge, porridge made with whey instead of water; whey-whig, a beverage made of whey flavored with herbs; whey-worm, see quot. 1828; fig. a whim; hence whey-wormed a., marked with whey-worms.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 431. The latter end of November or December, when all the *whey-bacon is gone.
1888. Rae, Austrian Health Res., viii. 169. The spoiled daughters of luxury … indulge in *whey baths.
1614. R. Tailor, Hog hath lost Pearl, IV. F 3 b. Father *whay-beard.
1647. Lilly, Chr. Astrol., xv. 84. He is leane, crooked, or beetle-browed, a thin whay Beard.
1831. Rennie, Montagu’s Ornith. Dict., Whey beard, a name for the White Throat.
1553. Grimalde, Cicero’s Offices, I. (1556), 46 b. As soone as he waxed *whey-berded.
1825. Jamieson, *Whey-bird, the wood-lark,… Lanarks.
1862. Johns, Brit. Birds, 625. Whey-bird, the Whitethroat.
1675. Duffett, Mock Tempest, I. i. The *Whey-Blooded Rogue looks as if his heart were melted into his Breeches.
1660. Tatham, Rump, I. i. A *Whey-brain’d fellow.
1894. Latto, Tam. Bodkin, viii. The *whey-brose was perfection.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 406. They skimmed the cream off to make *whey-butter.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 211. The quantity of whey-butter per cow is about half a pound per week.
1662. R. Venables, Exper. Angler, ix. 89. When … the river … looketh of a *whay colour.
1684. J. S., Profit & Pleas. United, 171. If the weather be dark or Whey-colour.
1845. G. P. R. James, Arrah Neil, ii. That indistinct hue which may be called whey-colour.
1602. Shaks., Merry Wives, B iii. I take it hee is somewhat a weakly man: And he has as it were a *whay coloured beard.
a. 1735. Arbuthnot, Diss. Dumpling, Misc. Wks. 1751, I. 67. A goodly Whey-colour’d Beard.
1835. Combe, Digestion, I. v. A semi-transparent whey-coloured fluid.
1868. S. F. Chapin, in Tuolumne City News, 18 Dec., 4/1. These pimples [in small-pox] … change into vesicles of little blisters, which contain a clear whey-colored fluid.
1604. T. M., Black Bk., E 1 b. A *whay countenance, short stooppes, and earthen dampish-voyce.
1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., IV. I. 170. When Butter is wholly made with *Whey-cream, it is then justly named Whey-butter.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Requeson, *whey cruds.
1740. Baynard, Health (ed. 6), 20. Such a Tormenter never rages ’mong *Whey-Drinkers in poor cottages.
1811. W. Aiton, Agric. Surv. Ayrs., 452 (Jam.). Putrifying holes, which, in the dairy language of Ayrshire, are termed *whey-drops. Ibid., 455. Whey-springs, or *eyes, are seldom met with in the cheeses of Ayrshire.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. iii. 17. Macb. … What Soldiers, Patch?… What Soldiers *Whay-face? Ser. The English Force, so please you.
1753. Jane Collier, Art Torment., I. ii. 46. If her complexion is fair, call her Whey-face.
1824. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. Mrs. Mosse. A little … man, with a Jerry-Sneak expression in his pale whey-face.
1649. Davenant, Love & Honour, IV. iv. 20. Marke, sir, that *whey-fac’d fellow in the red.
1697. Prior, Ep. to Sir F. Sheppard, 49. That sneaking Whey-fac’d God Apollo.
1753. Foote, Englishm. in Paris, I. i. One whey-fac’d Son of a Bitch … call’d me Bête.
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xvii. Your tutor, whey-faced Mr. Vining.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 10 June. To the Royal Theatre…. Thence to the *whay-house, and drank a great deal of whay.
1872–4. Jefferies, Toilers of Field (1892), 164. Against one wall are the *whey-leads.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 174. A *whey-like juice.
1822. Good, Study Med., II. 189. Whey-like urine.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 51/1. Porcus serarius,… a *whey pig.
14[?]. Metr. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 624/4. Whey i. olla *whey potte.
1784. J. Twamley, Dairying Exempl., 13. Faults … in Cheese such as … *Whey Springs.
1811. [see whey-eye].
1813. T. Rudge, Agric. Glouc., 299. It [butter-milk] is sometimes saved in the whey-tub, though, according to the opinion of judicious farmers, it were better thrown away. Hence, the provincial proverb: ‘Whey feeds a hog, and starves a dog: butter-milk feeds a dog, and starves a hog.’
1811. Willan, in Archaeologia, XVII. 163. *Whey-Whig, whey impregnated with mint, balm, and walnut leaves.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 222. The Essex men hauynge wylde *whaye wormes in their heddes.
1828. Craven Gloss., Whey-worms, pimples, from which exudes a wheylike moisture.
c. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 553. A sory face *Wheywormed about.
b. as adj. Whey-colored (cf. whey beard).
1663. Butler, Hud., I. I. 245. His tawny Beard … The upper part thereof was Whey, The nether Orange mixt with Grey.
