Learn English – What does the word “treat” mean?

meaning-in-context

From the U.K. band Kasabian's song "Treat", there's a lyric like this:

Everybody knows I work it work it like a treat

What's the meaning of the word treat in that phrase?

Best Answer

OP's citation is a mash-up of two well-established usages...

1a: "it worked a treat" (5230 hits in Google Books, primarily BrE)
and
1b: "it worked like a charm" (86300 hits)

For comparison, these are the "non-standard" versions...

2a: "it worked like a treat" (57 hits)
and
2b: "it worked a charm" (145 hits)

The meaning is given by OED's definition 5b...

a treat (adv.adj.)
so as to gratify highly; extremely well;
also (gen. or ironically) extremely, excessively.
colloquial

...where I've highlighted the most likely substitution appropriate for less colloquial contexts.

Related Question