Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
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
23 February 2025
BARGAIN
(noun) an advantageous purchase; “she got a bargain at the auction”; “the stock was a real buy at that price”
Coffee Trivia
