milkhouse

See also: milk-house

English

Alternative forms

• milk house, milk-house

Etymology

From milk +‎ house.

Noun

milkhouse (plural milkhouses)

1. A building (or portion thereof) on a dairy farm where milk is collected, cooled, and stored temporarily, pending sale and shipment.
   • 1949, University of Wisconsin. Extension Service, Special circular:

     The milkhouse should be well insulated so that a minimum amount of heat will be needed during winter.

   • 1972, Amos Long, The Pennsylvania German family farm:

     On many farms the early milkhouse and pumphouse were one. Most farmers during the latter part of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries with a herd of milk cows had a milkhouse.

2. A place where milk is processed into products such as butter or cheese; a dairy.

Coordinate terms

• (room in a barn for a specific purpose): feedroom, tackroom
• (separate outbuilding): springhouse (sometimes the same outbuilding, especially in the era before mechanical refrigeration)