TREACLE

treacle, mush, slop, glop

(noun) writing or music that is excessively sweet and sentimental

treacle, golden syrup

(noun) a pale cane syrup

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

treacle (countable and uncountable, plural treacles)

(chiefly, British) A syrupy byproduct of sugar refining; molasses or golden syrup.

Cloying sentimental speech.

(Cockney rhyming slang) Sweetheart (from treacle tart).

(obsolete) An antidote for poison; theriac.

(obsolete, figurative) Any all-powerful curative; a general remedy, a cure-all.

Verb

treacle (third-person singular simple present treacles, present participle treacling, simple past and past participle treacled)

To apply treacle to a surface, so as to catch flies or moths, etc.

Anagrams

• Electra

Source: Wiktionary


Trea"cle (tre"k'l), n. Etym: [OE. triacle a sovereign remedy, theriac, OF. triacle, F. thériaque (cf. Pr. triacla, tiriaca, Sp. & It. triaca, teriaca), L. theriaca an antidote against the bite of poisonous animals, Gr. qhri`on a beast, a wild beast, dim. of qh`r a beast. Cf. Theriac.]

1. (Old Med.)

Definition: A remedy against poison. See Theriac, 1. We kill the viper, and make treacle of him. Jer. Taylor.

2. A sovereign remedy; a cure. [Obs.] Christ which is to every harm treacle. Chaucer .

3. Molasses; sometimes, specifically, the molasses which drains from the sugar-refining molds, and which is also called sugarhouse molasses.

Note: In the United States molasses is the common name; in England, treacle.

4. A saccharine fluid, consisting of the inspissated juices or decoctions of certain vegetables, as the sap of the birch, sycamore, and the like. Treacle mustard (Bot.), a name given to several species of the cruciferous genus Erysimum, especially the E. cheiranthoides, which was formerly used as an ingredient in Venice treacle, or theriac.

– Treacle water, a compound cordial prepared in different ways from a variety of ingredients, as hartshorn, roots of various plants, flowers, juices of plants, wines, etc., distilled or digested with Venice treacle. It was formerly regarded as a medicine of great virtue. Nares. Venice treacle. (Old Med.) Same as Theriac, 1.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

28 May 2025

AIR

(noun) a distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing; “an air of mystery”; “the house had a neglected air”; “an atmosphere of defeat pervaded the candidate’s headquarters”; “the place had an aura of romance”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the most massive cup of coffee contained 22,739.14 liters and was created by Alcaldía Municipal de Chinchiná (Colombia) at Parque de Bolívar, Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia, on 15 June 2019. Fifty people worked for more than a month to build this giant cup. The drink prepared was Arabic coffee.

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