milk float
1
3.5
- noun
- /mɪlk fləʊt/
- Archaic
:
carro de leche
- The delivery man drove the milk float down the street, bringing fresh milk to each house.
Examples
-
Every morning, the milk float quietly rolled through the neighborhood to deliver milk to residents.
-
What, the milk float?
-
- That's a milk float!
-
One panda car, a red Sierra, and a blue and white milk float were lined up on the lane.
Fiction book (1995) -
- Start milk float.
-
These products are delivered unrefrigerated on a small flatbed vehicle referred to as a milk float.
Academic text (1994) -
She parked behind the milk float and surveyed the area, feeling grim despite her initial pleasure at being called out on another case so soon.
Fiction book (1995) -
In our town, we still have a milk float that delivers milk right to our doorstep.
Synonyms
1
9.3
A wagon that used to deliver milk to people's homes
A vehicle that delivers milk to people's homes or shops
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'milk' signals the content/purpose, the sense of 'float' required here (a small delivery vehicle) is not the common meaning a B1 learner would expect from 'float' (something that floats or a parade platform). The specific, regional vehicle sense is not predictable from the constituent meanings, so learners who only know the listed senses would not derive the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Milk float comes from the small, quiet carts that carried milk to houses; people said these open-sided vehicles seemed to float along the street in the early morning. So today milk float means the vehicle used for 'delivering milk'.