subs. (old).—1. A stuff under this strange designation appears in 16th century inventories, but we have no guide as to what determined its title.—Draper’s Dictionary.
1555. Inventory of Richard Gurnell, a Kendal clothier, xj. Yards of MYLKE AND WATTER, 18s.
1571. Inventory of John Wilkenson, of Newcastle, j. Piece of MYLK AND WATTER.
2. (venery).—See quot.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. MILK-AND-WATER. Both ends of the busk. [An old world toast].
Adj. (colloquial).—Insipid: undistinguished; harmless.
1823. BYRON, Don Juan, C. VIII. stanza 90.
| And one good action in the midst of crimes | |
| Is ‘quite refreshing,’ in the affected phrase | |
| Of these ambrosial, Pharisaic times, | |
| With all their pretty MILK-AND-WATER ways. |
1847. THACKERAY, Vanity Fair, iv. Simple appeals to the affections, which people understood better than the MILK-AND-WATER lagrime, sospiri, and felicità of the eternal Donizettian music with which we are favoured now-a-days.
1861. C. READE, The Cloister and the Hearth, XXVI. A MILK-AND-WATER bourgeois.
1889. Star, 12 Dec., p. 7, col. 1. The giant will be no MILK-AND-WATER giant, as young Mr. Geo. Conquest will represent him.
