Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A thick syrup produced in refining raw sugar and ranging from light to dark brown in color.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The repellent fluid ejected from the mouths of grasshoppers and certain other insects when captured.
  • noun The uncrystallized syrup produced in the manufacture of sugar. It properly differs from treacle in that it comes from sugar in the process of making, while treacle is obtained in the process of refining: but the two words are often used synonymously.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The thick, brown or dark colored, viscid, uncrystallizable sirup which drains from sugar, in the process of manufacture; any thick, viscid, sweet sirup made from vegetable juice or sap, as of the sorghum or maple. See treacle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A thick brownish syrup produced in the refining of raw sugar.
  • noun Plural form of molasse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun thick dark syrup produced by boiling down juice from sugar cane; especially during sugar refining

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Portuguese melaços, pl. of melaço, from Late Latin mellāceum, must, from Latin mel, mell-, honey; see melit- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French mélasse or Portuguese melaço compare Spanish melaza, from Late Latin mellaceus "honeylike", "honey-sweet", from Latin mel, mellis, "honey". See mellifluous and compare melasses.

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Examples

Comments

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  • If you've never heard of the Boston molasses disaster check out this wiki article.

    April 9, 2007

  • Best part of the mole...

    April 9, 2007

  • Eeeeew! ;-)

    April 9, 2007

  • That is wrong on so many levels, trivet.

    April 9, 2007

  • A strong-arm of PONY LAW, Molasses don't take no guff from nobody.

    August 9, 2008