Note: In the United States molasses is the common name; in England, treacle.
4. A saccharine fluid, consisting of the inspissated juices or decoctions of certain vegetables, as the sap of the birch, sycamore, and the like. Treacle mustard (Bot.), a name given to several species of the cruciferous genus Erysimum, especially the E. cheiranthoides, which was formerly used as an ingredient in Venice treacle, or theriac. — Treacle water, a compound cordial prepared in different ways from a variety of ingredients, as hartshorn, roots of various plants, flowers, juices of plants, wines, etc., distilled or digested with Venice treacle. It was formerly regarded as a medicine of great virtue. Nares. Venice treacle. (Old Med.) Same as Theriac, 1.
TREACLY
Trea"cly, a.
Defn: Like, or composed of, treacle.
TREAD Tread, v. i. [imp. Trod; p. p. Trodden, Trod; p. pr. & vb. n. Treading.] Etym: [OE. treden, AS. tredan; akin to OFries. treda, OS. tredan, D. & LG. treden, G. treten, OHG. tretan, Icel. tro, Sw. tråda, träda, Dan. træde, Goth. trudan, and perhaps ultimately to F. tramp; cf. Gr. dram to run. Cf. Trade, Tramp, Trot.]
1. To set the foot; to step.
Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise. Pope.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Pope.
The hard stone Under our feet, on which we tread and go. Chaucer.
2. To walk or go; especially, to walk with a stately or a cautious step. Ye that . . . stately tread, or lowly creep. Milton.
3. To copulate; said of birds, esp. the males. Shak. To tread on or upon. (a) To trample; to set the foot on in contempt. "Thou shalt tread upon their high places." Deut. xxxiii. 29. (b) to follow closely. "Year treads on year." Wordsworth. — To tread upon the heels of, to follow close upon. "Dreadful consequences that tread upon the heels of those allowances to sin." Milton. One woe doth tread upon another's heel. Shak.
TREAD
Tread, v. t.
1. To step or walk on. Forbid to tread the promised land he saw. Prior. Methought she trod the ground with greater grace. Dryden.