lactescence

English

Etymology

Compare French lactescence.

Noun

lactescence (countable and uncountable, plural lactescences)

1. The quality or state of producing milk, or milky sap.
2. Resemblance to milk; a milky colour.
   • 1664, Robert Boyle, “Experiment XII”, in Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Henry Herringman […], published 1670, →OCLC, part II (Of the Nature of Whiteness and Blackness), page 169:

     [T]his Lacteſcence, if I may ſo call it, does alſo commonly enſue vvhen […] fair VVater is ſuddenly pour'd upon the Tincture or Solution.

3. (botany) The latex of certain plants.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “lactescence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

French

Noun

lactescence f (plural lactescences)

1. lactescence

Further reading

• “lactescence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.