a. [ad. L. lactēscent-em, pres. pple. f. lactēscĕre, inchoative vb. f. lactēre to be milky, f. lact-, lac milk.]
1. Becoming milky; having a milky appearance.
1668. Phil. Trans., III. 752. Concerning lactescent Bloud in a man … whose Bloud alwayes turn’d into Milk.
1757. Walker, in Phil. Trans., L. 135. Saccharum Saturni being added to the solution, precipitated a thick lactescent cloud.
1815. Sporting Mag., XLVI. 63. The lactescent juice of the former [lettuce] is powerfully narcotic.
1876. Gross, Dis. Bladder, 196. The urine assumes a turbid, purulent, or lactescent aspect.
2. Of plants: Yielding a milky juice.
1673. Phil. Trans., VIII. 6006. Cheggio, a lactescent plant, found in Cambaja.
1724. Switzer, Pract. Gard., VII. lviii. (1727), 308. Common ladies thistle … on account of its lactescent quality.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 11. Limnocharis, a genus belonging to Butomeæ, is lactescent.
1880. in Gray, Struct. Bot. (ed. 6), 417/2.
† 3. Used for: Producing or secreting milk.
1796. Duncan, Ann. Med., I. 236. Tension of the nipples of lactescent women at the sight of a child.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., II. xxiv. 478. The entire skin of the abdomen forms a pocket, inclosing the lactescent organs.
