D defs.my
Menu ☰
Entry 4 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Starch

/(stärch)/ · IPA /stɑɹt͡ʃ/
01 a. Stiff; precise; rigid.
  1. 1.
    Stiff; precise; rigid.[R.]
02 n. A widely diffused vegetable substance found especially in seeds, bulbs, and tubers, and extracted (as from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) as a…
  1. 1.
    A widely diffused vegetable substance found especially in seeds, bulbs, and tubers, and extracted (as from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) as a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.(Chem.)
  2. 2.
    Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality.
Phrases & compounds
Starch hyacinth — the grape hyacinth; -- so called because the flowers have the smell of boiled starch. See under Grape.
03 v. t. To stiffen with starch.
imp. & p. p. Starched; p. pr. & vb. n. Starching
  1. 1.
    To stiffen with starch.