treacle

English

WOTD – 14 October 2008

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treacle

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Etymology

From Middle English triacle, partly from Old French triacle, and partly from Old English tyriaca, both from Late Latin *triaca, *tiriaca, late form of theriaca, ultimately from Ancient Greek θηριακή (thēriakḗ, “antidote”), feminine form of θηριακός (thēriakós, “concerning venomous beasts”), from θήρ (thḗr, “beast”). Doublet of theriacle, equivalent to theriac +‎ -le.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: trēʹ-kəl, IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiː.kəl/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiː.ku/, /ˈtɹiː.kɯ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːkəl

Noun

treacle (countable and uncountable, plural treacles)

1. (chiefly UK, Ireland) A syrupy byproduct of sugar refining; molasses or golden syrup.
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     Didn’t you see how the cub was ashamed of the thick bread-and-butter? I dare say they’re going to have treacle if they are good.

2. Cloying sentimental speech.
   • 2012 July 22, Frank Rich, “Mayberry R.I.P.”, in New York‎:

     The public tributes to Griffith were over-the-top in a way his acting never was, spreading treacle from the evening newscasts to the front page of the New York Times.

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

   Listen, treacle, this is the last time I'll warn you!

4. (historical, pharmacology) Synonym of theriac: an antidote for poison, especially snakebite; a supposedly universal antidote.
   • 1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:

     CHEWING-BALLS, a kind of balls made of aſafœtida, liver of antimony, bay-wood, juniper-wood, and pellitory of Spain; which being dried in the ſun, and wrapped in a linen-cloth, are tied to the bit of the bridle for the horſe to chew: they create an appetite; and it is ſaid, that balls of Venice treacle may be uſed in the ſame manner with good ſucceſs.

   1. (obsolete, figurative, by extension) Synonym of cure: an all-powerful curative for some particular affliction.
   2. (obsolete, figurative, by extension) Synonym of cure-all: a panacea for all human ailments.

Derived terms

• mithridate treacle
• treacle bread
• treacle mustard
• treacle paper
• treacle pudding
• treacle sleep
• treacle tart
• treacle water
• treacly
• Venice treacle

Translations

molasses or golden syrup

Afrikaans: melasse Bulgarian: меласа f (melasa), петмез (bg) m (petmez) Chinese: Cantonese: 糖蜜 (tong4 mat6), 糖膠 / 糖胶 (tong4 gaau1) (golden syrup, treacle), 黑糖膠 / 黑糖胶 (haak1 tong4 gaau1) (molasses, black treacle) Mandarin: 糖蜜 (zh) (tángmì) Danish: mørk sirup c, melasse c Dutch: melasse (nl) f Esperanto: melaso Finnish: siirappi (fi), melassi (fi) French: mélasse (fr) f German: Melasse (de) f Hebrew: דבשה (he) f (divsha) Hungarian: melasz (hu) Italian: melassa (it) f Japanese: 糖蜜 (ja) (とうみつ, tōmitsu) Maori: tirīkara Norman: m'lasse f Polish: melasa (pl) f Portuguese: melaço (pt) m Russian: мела́сса (ru) f (melássa), па́тока (ru) f (pátoka) Spanish: melaza (es) f Swedish: melass (sv) Ukrainian: па́тока f (pátoka) Welsh: triagl m

cloying sentimental speech

Finnish: mielistely (fi), (colloquial) makeilu (fi) Russian: слаща́вость (ru) f (slaščávostʹ)

Verb

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

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

Anagrams

• Electra, lac tree