Literary notes about Treacly (AI summary)
In literature, "treacly" is deployed to evoke a rich, viscous quality that can describe both physical substances and emotional tones. It often paints a picture of something thick, sticky, and overly sweet—whether referring to tangible items like liquids and glazes that appear cloyingly dense ([1], [2], [3]) or to more figurative descriptors of behavior and speech that seem excessively sentimental or syrupy ([4], [5], [6]). The word's versatility allows authors to blur the line between a texture one might physically feel, such as the treacly liquid poured into a cup ([7]), and the intangible atmosphere of a scene, like the treacly ocean of dominant sevenths that overwhelms a character’s spirit ([8]). This dual function enriches narrative textures and deepens the reader’s sensory and emotional experience.
- The thick treacly liquid is thus drawn out into a thread of such fineness that a microscope is necessary to find it with.
— from Marvels of Scientific Invention An Interesting Account in Non-Technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-Date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and Many Other Recent Discoveries of Science by Thomas W. Corbin - The glaze is treacly black, often applied unevenly and sometimes pitted with air bubbles.
— from The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia An Archeological and Historical Investigation of the Port Town for Stafford County and the Plantation of John Mercer, Including Data Supplied by Frank M. Setzler and Oscar H. Darter by C. Malcolm Watkins - The sugar in those days was the dark, treacly kind, that left a stain on the floor like blood; it came in casks.
— from Early Days in North Queensland by Edward Palmer - There was none of her treacly volubility.
— from The Arrow of Gold: A Story Between Two Notes by Joseph Conrad - It was improving and patronising and treacly, and full of information, partly about the lectures, but mostly about himself.
— from The Romance of His Life, and Other Romances by Mary Cholmondeley - "Drink?" said Captain Triplett in his most treacly manner.
— from The Cruise of the Kawa: Wanderings in the South Seas by George S. (George Shepard) Chappell - “I haven't had any,” she said, grasping the teapot and pouring a treacly liquid into a cup.
— from Simon the Jester by William John Locke - But to-night his spirit, rocked on a treacly ocean of dominant sevenths, succumbed utterly to the sweet sorrow of parting.
— from Limbo by Aldous Huxley
