A dark, sweet syrup made from sugar or molasses; also means overly sentimental or sweet writing.
From Middle French 'triacle' and Greek 'theriake' originally meaning a remedy against venom. The meaning shifted to a sweet syrup, then metaphorically to anything overly sweet or sentimental.
Treacle originally was medicine for snake bites, then became a sweet syrup, and now describes any writing that's so sappy and sentimental it's almost sickening—poison to sugar to emotional overkill!
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