Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Cloying speech or sentiment.
- n. Chiefly British Molasses.
- n. A medicinal compound formerly used as an antidote for poison.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A medicinal compound of various ingredients, formerly believed to be capable of curing or preventing the effects of poison, particularly the effects of the bite of a serpent. See theriac.
- n. More generally, a remedy; a panacea; a sovereign antidote or restorative: often used figuratively.
- n. The spume of sugar in sugar-refineries: so called as resembling in appearance or supposed medicinal properties the ancient theriacal compounds. Treacle is obtained in refining sugar; molasses is the drainings of crude sugar. The name treacle, however, is very often given to molasses.
- n. A saccharine fluid consisting of the inspissated juices or decoctions of certain vegetables, as the sap of the birch or of the sugar-maple.
- n. One of several plants sometimes regarded as antidotes to poison, or named from plants so regarded. See the phrases below.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete An antidote for poison; theriac.
- n. chiefly UK A syrupy byproduct of sugar refining; molasses or golden syrup.
- n. Cloying sentimental speech.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Old Med.) A remedy against poison. See theriac, 1.
- n. obsolete A sovereign remedy; a cure.
- n. Molasses; sometimes, specifically, the molasses which drains from the sugar-refining molds, and which is also called
sugarhouse molasses . - n. A saccharine fluid, consisting of the inspissated juices or decoctions of certain vegetables, as the sap of the birch, sycamore, and the like.
WordNet 3.0
- n. writing or music that is excessively sweet and sentimental
- n. a pale cane syrup
Etymologies
- From Old French triacle, from Late Latin *triaca, late form of theriaca, from Ancient Greek θηριακή (thēriakē, "antidote"), feminine form of θηριακός (thēriakos, "concerning venomous beasts"), from θήρ (thēr, "beast"). Compare theriac, theriacle. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English triacle, antidote for poison, from Old French, from Latin thēriaca, from Greek thēriakē (antidotos), (antidote against) wild animals, feminine of thēriakos, of wild animals, from thērion, diminutive of thēr, beast; see ghwer- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The English term treacle comes via the French triacle from the Latin theriaca, meaning antidotes against poison.”
Simon & Schuster: On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
“Rope suspended upon poles, to which was tied by small twine two lumps of pudding drip'd in treacle, under which stood on stools, two boys with their hands tied behind them, whose business it was to catch the pudding in their mouths!”
“We moaned back then, but the politics and bureaucracy you guys face, it must be like swimming uphill in treacle!”
“Molasses Molasses, which is called treacle in the United Kingdom, is generally defined as the syrup left over in cane sugar processing after the readily crystallizable sucrose has been removed from the boiled juice.”
Simon & Schuster: On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
“At this point in Abel's meditations, his wife, Ruth, came in with a dish of figs preserved in grape treacle from a famous recipe that she claimed came from Palestine.”
“I mean that he’s probably thick as two planks dipped in treacle, dimmo.”
“You’ll find other bizarre examples like this one The Power of Nice (Doubleday), a dish of treacle from the advertising executives who created the Aflac duck.”
“The second boiling produces a much darker syrup, which British cooks call treacle (or dark treacle) and we call molasses (or dark molasses).”
This morning we secretly replaced - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“SummaryIf you can't get treacle, which is more common in Great Britain than in the U.S., molasses makes a fine substitute.”
Recipes of the Day: Sticky Toffee Pudding, and Orange Glaze - Bitten Blog - NYTimes.com
“Yours look fabulous - love the idea of treacle on cream on scone.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘treacle’.
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Sugar
sugar, sugar cube, sugar of lead, The Sugarcubes, table sugar, sucrose, sugar cane, sugar beet, brown sugar, sugar alcohol, sugar of milk, sugar orchard and 129 more...
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phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tyromancy, tyroma, tyroid, tyriasis, tyrannicide, typtology, typothetae, typomania, typography, typographia, typhonic, typhomania and 930 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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Specifically
Being a list of words which have "specifically" in their definitions.
recompose, specifically, Dutch, abstinence, discipline, virtue, namely, opening, century, amalgamation, cup, second and 303 more...
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Old Pharmacy, etc.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
There. I think I've convinced myself.
(Of course...asafetida, Cinchona, Peruvian bark, Jesuit's bark, mithridate, aqua, bark, lard, electuary, gentian, diatessaron, myrrh and 110 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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See Phrases Under
Being a list of words with definitions which have the phrase "see phrases under" in them. I will also accept words with definitions which have the phrase "see phrases below."
see phrases under, cubit, hood, palm, brethren, sulcus, zone, trochlearis, sacrovertebral, turkey, geography, See Phrases Under and 2 more...
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Always heard but never QUITE knew
crass, sublimate, mien, cagey, expectoration, inexorable, vacillation, singular, interpolation, iconoclastic, belie, solipsist and 14 more...
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tatterdemalion's list
chrysalis, colloquy, peroration, syncretism, dickering, gamelan, dictatress, adventurism, untenable, presumption of fa..., lovelorn, bawdily and 47 more...
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beyond pale
Words meaning or invoking the different aspects of pale.
Not just colour, but also the ideas of impermanence, illness, weakness. (Just not the two noun forms – a thin strip of metal or woo...pale, pallid, wan, light, misty, ethereal, cream, dim, white, thin, waning, colourless and 62 more...
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Irish English that's not in American ...
Well-known phrases in Irish English that aren't understood in American English.
or next offer, hoover, plaster, soother, chimnea, craic, bits and bobs, grinds, jumper, mum, chancer, ticks all the boxes and 60 more...
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Formerly
Being a list of words with definitions containing the word "formerly."
formerly, armorer, link, plummet, brank, pall-mall, florin, quondam, erstwhile, imponderable, recant, ether and 32 more...
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Knee Deep in Chic
Words, prose, bon mots, and literary styles that cause a contagious enthusiasm by its very existence. They can be muses to a story. rekindling the spark that went out. The cure-all elixir to a bla...
euphuism, quiddity, saudade, zugzwang, razbliuto, parti pris, oleaginous, crevasse, chantepleure, chiaroscuro, prestidigitation, dysphemism and 79 more...
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Mr. Pronunciation's Bad Day
Mr. Pronunciation is an upstanding and reliable sort of dude. He's like the Clark Kent of the pronunciation world. Sometimes, though, he botches up a pronunciation and, you know, he's in a hurry an...
colonel, treacle, cruel, laissez faire, poo, stupid, sashay, concrete, birthmark, chic, draught, gaur and 11 more...
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logos's list
A poor pathetic thing, but mine own.
invidious, lugubriousness, vilify, noisome, synastry, front and center, declension, conjugation, regnal, diphthong, circumlocution, bishopric and 141 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for treacle.
ruzuzu Oh dear. I feel the inexorable pull of confectio Damocritis trying to suck me in--I'll try to resist, but I will note that treacle has now been added to my sugar list and my list of substances formerly-used-in-medicine, that the decoction reference in the definition is downright iroquoisy, and that there's apparently a long-running joke about treacle mining (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treacle_mining). Feb 1, 2013
hernesheir I'm imagining the softly glowing pearly sausages mentioned in the quotation below. Feb 1, 2013
Prolagus "I've had it done up lately," he explained, as he had explained for the past -- how many? -- weeks. "New carpet," and he pointed to the bright red carpet with a pattern of large white rings. "New furniture," and he nodded towards the massive bookcase and the table with legs like twisted treacle. "Electric heating!" He waved almost exultantly towards the five transparent, pearly sausages glowing so softly in the tilted copper pan.
(The Fly, by Katherine Mansfield)
I'm trying to figure out what the author means by twisted treacle.
Could it be the way thick molasses flows, something like this?
http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-3042472-stock-footage-red-thick-liquid-in-a-super-slow-motion-flowing-against-a-white-background.html Feb 1, 2013
frogapplause My new word for today.
Mar 10, 2010
uselessness According to Mr. Pronunciation, it's "teekle." Dec 12, 2009
arby Or, British for jam. Jul 13, 2007
marco_nj Cloying sentimental speech Dec 31, 2006