or simson, subs. (obsolete).—1. Water: spec. when used for diluting milk; hence, MRS. SIMPSON (or SIMPSON’S COW) = the pump; ‘the cow with the iron tail.’ Whence (2) = poor milk: see SKY-BLUE and CHALKERS.
1860. O. W. HOLMES, The Professor at the Breakfast-Table, vii. 197. It is a common saying of a jockey, that he is ‘all horse,’ and I have often fancied that milkmen get a stiff, upright carriage, and an angular movement of the arm, that remind one of a pump and the working of its handle.
1871. Daily News, 17 April. He had, he stated on inquiry, a liquid called SIMPSON on his establishment.
1871. Standard, 11 May. Police Report. If they annoyed him again he would christen them with SIMPSON, which he did by throwing a can of milk over the police.
1872. Times, 24 Dec. Police Report. His master supplied wholesale dealers, who, he believed, watered it. That was called SIMPSON. Ibid. Witness generally milked the cows for himself, and then added SIMPSON at discretion.
1872. Standard, 25 Dec. SIMPSON is … universally accepted as the title for that combined product of the cow natural and the “cow with the iron tail.”
1880. Punch, 31 Jan., 48. In the first rank of the Committee of Management of ‘The Householders’ Pure Milk Supply Association,’ stands the name of our old friend ‘SIMPSON!’ SIMPSON, who has so often milked the cow with the iron tail, that in the language of the milk-walk he has become identified with the animal! SIMPSON = Pump!
