molasses
/məˈlæsɪz/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.00 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A thick, sweet syrup drained from sugarcane, especially (Canada, US) the still thicker and sweeter syrup produced by boiling down raw molasses.
Uncountable
noun
Any similarly thick and sweet syrup produced by boiling down fruit juices, tree saps, etc., especially concentrated maple syrup.
American usage; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Well, we had our breakfast of ship's bread and molasses, washed down with cannikins of something liquid - but not lovely."
- "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."
- "Boiled some cornstalk juice into molasses."
- "He really poured on the molasses, charming his audience and changing more than a few votes."
- "‘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."
- "...the mournful molasses of his prose..."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: melaços, melazos, mellacium, melaza, mélasse, mellacea
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /məˈlæsɪz/
- British English: /məʊˈlasɪz/
Usage
- Uncountable
- American usage
- Obsolete
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
like molasses
like molasses in January
maple molasses
molasses acid
molasses ale
molasses barrel
molasses beer
molasses bird