Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A dark, very thick molasses, especially a residual product of sugar refining that is used in the manufacture of industrial alcohol and as an ingredient in cattle feed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name of various beverages.
  • noun A sailors' term for any strong, dark-colored liquor: hence applied to the dark-red wines of the Mediterranean coasts.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A mixture of spirituous liquor (usually rum) and molasses.
  • noun Bad port wine; any common wine of the Mediterranean; -- so called by sailors.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The dark, viscous molasses remaining after maximum extraction of sugar from raw sugar cane, used in manufacturing and cattle feed.
  • noun obsolete A mixture of spirituous liquor (usually rum) and molasses.
  • noun obsolete, nautical, slang Bad port wine; any common wine of the Mediterranean.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its color and texture.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

black +‎ strap?

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Examples

  • The third boiling produces what we both apparently call blackstrap molasses, which is very dark and somewhat bitter, and which health-food advocates think is heaven on earth, although it is more often used to feed cattle.

    This morning we secretly replaced - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2009

  • The red wine was called blackstrap and was sour, while the insipid white was called Miss Taylor, a name that puzzled Sharpe until he saw the label on one of the bottles: Mistela.

    Sharpe's Trafalgar Cornwell, Bernard, 1944- 2000

  • Avoid using blackstrap, which is less sweet and has a stronger flavor than dark molasses.

    SFGate: Top News Stories Michael Bauer 2010

  • Avoid using blackstrap, which is less sweet and has a stronger flavor than dark molasses.

    SFGate: Top News Stories Michael Bauer 2010

  • My family has not forgiven me yet, but perhaps if I make these, that will smooth things over! why so much baking soda? browning effect? because there's not that much molasses (acid). and it's only 4 cups flour. somebody enlighten me! oh and for your molasses question - depends if you want the stronger molasses flavor. robust is probably what is more commonly referred to as blackstrap molasses. the light stuff I think tastes too light for something like a ginger cookie, I think. and given there's only 1/2C of molasses in this recipe to go along with 2 C of regular sugar, I'd def say go for the robust.

    Jeremy Zawodny's linkblog 2009

  • My family has not forgiven me yet, but perhaps if I make these, that will smooth things over! why so much baking soda? browning effect? because there's not that much molasses (acid). and it's only 4 cups flour. somebody enlighten me! oh and for your molasses question - depends if you want the stronger molasses flavor. robust is probably what is more commonly referred to as blackstrap molasses. the light stuff I think tastes too light for something like a ginger cookie, I think. and given there's only 1/2C of molasses in this recipe to go along with 2 C of regular sugar, I'd def say go for the robust.

    Jeremy Zawodny's linkblog 2009

  • The white rum found in the traditional Daiquiri would be too easily overwhelmed by the bold liqueur, so he used a robust " blackstrap " rum made from molasses.

    A Master of Mixological Science ERIC FELTEN 2010

  • "Fall always makes me reach for richer spirits and cordials such as blackstrap rum, applejack, bourbon, amaros, Falernum and so on," he says.

    chicagotribune.com - News 2010

  • "Fall always makes me reach for richer spirits and cordials such as blackstrap rum, applejack, bourbon, amaros, Falernum and so on," he says.

    chicagotribune.com - News 2010

  • "Fall always makes me reach for richer spirits and cordials such as blackstrap rum, applejack, bourbon, amaros, Falernum and so on," he says.

    chicagotribune.com - News 2010

Comments

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  • "... a fictitious name, given by our sailors, to that kind of Mediterranean wine with which the ships are supplied on that station; and which, after the grog and wine usually served, they cannot, for a while, relish: hence, to be driven above Gibraltar, is, as they call it, to be black-strapped."

    Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 41

    October 11, 2008