Meanings
- uncountableA disease of the white grubs of Japanese beetles, caused by a soil-dwelling bacterium, Paenibacillus popilliae.
When ingested by a foraging beetle grub [the spores] multiply prodigiously in its blood, causing it to turn an abnormally white color, hence the popular name, “milky disease.”
1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 7, in Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 971 more example
1972, United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, “The Japanese Beetle: How We Fight It,” p. 6, If possible, biological controls are used. One of these is milky disease, a bacterial disease that infects and kills the grub without causing harm to other animal life.
Synonyms: milky spore
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA disease of the white grubs of Japanese beetles, caused by a soil-dwelling bacterium, Paenibacillus popilliae.
nounSynonym of grasserie (“disease of silkworms”).
Cite this entry
milky disease. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milky%20disease
“milky disease.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milky%20disease. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “milky disease,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/milky%20disease.
Source: milky disease on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.