treacle

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
treacle/ˈtriːkl/

▶noun

• 1 Brit. molasses.

  ■ golden syrup.

• 2 cloying sentimentality or flattery.

– derivatives
treacly adjective.

word history: When treacle entered English in the Middle Ages it meant ‘antidote against poison, venomous bites, and disease’: it came via Old French and Latin from Greek thēriakē ‘antidote against venom’, from thērion ‘wild beast’. Treacle seems to have retained this meaning until the beginning of the 19th century, though in the broader sense ‘medicine or remedy’: the use of syrup to make medicine taste better led to the current senses, which date from the late 17th century.