molasses
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /məˈlæsɪz/
ipa: [məˈlæsɪz]
ipa: [mɵˈlæsɪz]
ipa: /məʊˈlasɪz/
ipa: /məˈlasɪz/
ipa: [məˈlæsɪz]
note: Scots
ipa: /məˈlasɪz/
rhymes: -æsɪz
Forms: form: molass
form: mollasses
form: malasses
form: merlaasses
form: molassey
form: molassy
form: melasus
form: molassos
form: malassoes
form: malassos
form: molossus
form: melasses
form: mallassus
form: malosses
form: mellasses
form: milasses
form: molassers
form: molossoes
form: molossos
form: mullasses
form: molosses
form: melossus
form: mollossus
form: molossas
form: molases
form: mellosses
form: moloses
form: merlassers
form: millasses
form: molassisis
Etymology: From Portuguese melaços or Spanish melazos, from Late Latin mellacium (“must, honey-sweet thing”), from mel (“honey”) + -āceus (“-aceous”) + -ium, q.v. Some alternative forms derived or influenced by Spanish melaza and French mélasse, conjectured to derive from unattested Late Latin mellacea, from mel + -ācea.
Senses: examples: text: Well, we had our breakfast of ship's bread and molasses, washed down with cannikins of something liquid - but not lovely.
ref: 1907 February 2, The Chronicle, Adelaide, page 50, column 2:
text: When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A thick, sweet syrup drained from sugarcane, especially (Canada, US) the still thicker and sweeter syrup produced by boiling down raw molasses.
examples: text: Boiled some cornstalk juice into molasses.
ref: 1777 Sept. 13, Manessah Cutler, Journal, s.v.
glosses: Any similarly thick and sweet syrup produced by boiling down fruit juices, tree saps, etc., especially concentrated maple syrup.
examples: text: He really poured on the molasses, charming his audience and changing more than a few votes.
text: ‘You're the cutest thing here,’ whispered Clyde, hugging her fondly.
‘Gee, but you can pour on the molasses, kid, when you want to,’ she called out loud.
ref: 1925, Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy, volume I, page 127:
text: ...the mournful molasses of his prose...
ref: 1972 Nov. 26, New York Times Book Review, p. 1
glosses: Anything considered figuratively sweet, especially sweet words.
examples: text: Though faster than typing, the daisy wheel is molasses compared to dot matrix printers.
ref: 1990, Norman Schreiber, Your Home Office, New York, N.Y.: Perennial Library, →ISBN, page 91:
text: Of course, time was molasses in the cold months that bracketed that very long year; time was monotony. When all days are the same, memory caves in on itself.
ref: 2022, Julia Glass, Vigil Harbor, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 161:
text: It's worthwhile starting with the lowest-tier plan from your provider. If your internet is molasses, then you might consider an upgrade.
ref: 2023 March 3, Shira Ovide, “Four mistakes you’re making that slow down your internet”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Mar 2023:
glosses: Something which moves or works extremely slowly.
glosses: plural of molass: whiskey made from molasses.
glosses: Synonym of molass: whiskey made from molasses.
synonyms: word: molass
extra: whiskey made from molasses
Synonyms: sense: concentrated sugarcane syrup
word: long sweetening
sense: concentrated sugarcane syrup
word: treacle
sense: concentrated sugarcane syrup
word: theriac
sense: concentrated sugarcane syrup
word: sorghum syrup
sense: concentrated sugarcane syrup
word: cane syrup
sense: things considered figuratively sweet
word: sugar and honey
Hyponyms: sense: any sweet concentrated syrup
word: maple syrup
Derived terms: like molasses
like molasses in January
maple molasses
molasses acid
molasses ale
molasses barrel
molasses beer
molasses bird
molasses brandy
molasses cake
molasses candy
molasses cane
molasses cask
molasses cistern
molasses cookie
molasses face
molasses gate
molasses gingerbread
molasses grass
molasses hogshead
molasses house
molasses jug
molasseslike
molasses rum
molasses scone
molasses settlings
molasses spirit
molasses taffy
molasses tank
molasses tierce
molassied
molassy
pomegranate molasses
slow as molasses
slow as molasses in January
slower than molasses
slower than molasses in January
sorghum molasses
thick as molasses