treacle

[ tree-kuh l ]

/ ˈtri kəl /

noun

contrived or unrestrained sentimentality: a movie plot of the most shameless treacle.

British.

molasses, especially that which is drained from the vats used in sugar refining.
Also called golden syrup. a mild mixture of molasses, corn syrup, etc., used in cooking or as a table syrup.

Pharmacology Obsolete. any of various medicinal compounds, formerly used as antidotes for poison.

Nearby words

trc, tre corde, treacherous, treacherously, treachery, treacle, treacle mustard, tread, tread the boards, tread water, treadle

Origin of treacle

1275–1325; Middle English, variant of triacle antidote < Middle French, Old French < Latin thēriaca < Greek thēriakḗ, noun use of feminine of thēriakós concerning wild beasts, equivalent to thērí(on) wild beast (thḗr wild beast + -ion diminutive suffix) + -akos -ac

Related formstrea·cly

[tree-klee] /ˈtri kli/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for treacly

And we all remember good-but-overpraised songs like If I Had a Hammer and the treacly classic Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
The Death of 'Stalin's Songbird'|Michael Moynihan|January 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Here was this anti-war holiday demoted to treacly sentimentality.
Mother’s Day 2013: Gloria Steinem, Erica Jong & Writers Thank Their Moms|Gloria Steinem, Erica Jong, Fay Weldon, Dalma Heyn, Joyce Maynard|May 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It avoids that treacly, touchy-feely ground on which Democrats so love to walk.
Michael Tomasky: With Joe Biden’s Speech, The Democrats Finally Man Up|Michael Tomasky|April 28, 2012|DAILY BEAST
And, holding his reloaded Lee-Metford rifle high over his head, he plunged into the treacly sea and swam back towards the dragon.
Oswald Bastable and Others|Edith Nesbit

"I haven't had any," she said, grasping the teapot and pouring a treacly liquid into a cup.
Simon the Jester|William J. Locke
With a lot of trouble I got hold of a servant and made him bring us some of the treacly Turkish coffee.
Greenmantle|John Buchan
And he set the sail, and Eliza steered as well as she could in her treacly state.
Oswald Bastable and Others|Edith Nesbit
His eyes sought answer from the river and saw a rowboat rock at anchor on the treacly swells lazily its plastered board.
Ulysses|James Joyce

British Dictionary definitions for treacly

treacle

/ (ˈtriːkəl) /

noun

Also called: black treacle British a dark viscous syrup obtained during the refining of sugar

British another name for golden syrup

anything sweet and cloying

obsolete any of various preparations used as an antidote to poisoning

Derived Formstreacly, adjectivetreacliness, noun

Word Origin for treacle

C14: from Old French triacle, from Latin thēriaca antidote to poison

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for treacly

treacle

mid-14c., "medicinal compound, antidote for poison," from Old French triacle "antidote" (c.1200), from Vulgar Latin *triacula, from Latin theriaca, from Greek theriake (antidotos) "antidote for poisonous wild animals," from fem. of theriakos "of a wild animal," from therion "wild animal," diminutive of ther (genitive theros) "wild animal," from PIE root *ghwer- "wild" (see fierce).

Sense of "molasses" is first recorded 1690s; that of "anything too sweet or sentimental" is from 1771. The connection may be from the use of molasses as a laxative, or its use to disguise the bad taste of medicine.