milk float
noun1
An electric accumulator battery-driven vehicle (formerly also horse-drawn), designed for the house-to-house delivery of fresh milk; common in Europe, especially the United Kingdom.
- Further clues are provided by milk-floats bearing the legend 'Lord Rayleigh's Dairies: A Family Business', and a number of signs indicating the whereabouts of various departments of Lord Rayleigh's Farms.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 375, about Terling:
- Milk floats were flimsy at the front (especially the three-wheelers) but very strong at the back. They were uncomplicated vehicles. Nothing much could go wrong and, when it did go wrong, the vehicles were relatively easy to repair.2016, Andrew Ward, No Milk Today: The Vanishing World of the Milkman, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
- Synonyms
- dairy van, float
- Derived terms
- electric milk float, horse-drawn milk float