treacle
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English triacle, partly from Old French triacle, and partly from Old English tiriaca, 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 edit
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: trēʹ-kəl, IPA(key): /ˈtɹiː.kəl/
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈtɹiː.ku/, /ˈtɹiː.kɯ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -iːkəl
Noun edit
treacle (countable and uncountable, plural treacles)
- (chiefly British) A syrupy byproduct of sugar refining; molasses or golden syrup.
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (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.
- Cloying sentimental speech.
- 2012 July 22, Frank Rich, “Mayberry R.I.P.”, in New York[1]:
- 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.
- (Cockney rhyming slang) Sweetheart (from treacle tart).
- Listen, treacle, this is the last time I'll warn you!
- (obsolete) 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.
- (obsolete, figurative) Synonym of cure: an all-powerful curative for some particular affliction.
- (obsolete, figurative) Synonym of cure-all: a panacea for all human ailments.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
molasses or golden syrup
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cloying sentimental speech
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Verb edit
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.