starch

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

starch, a. [AS. stearc stark, strong, rough. See Stark.].

 Stiff; precise; rigid.  Killingbeck.  [1913 Webster]

starch, n. [From starch stiff, cf. G. stärke, fr. stark strong.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  " Starch is a carbohydrate, being the typical amylose, C6H10O5, and is detected by the fine blue color given to it by free iodine. It is not fermentable as such, but is changed by diastase into dextrin and maltose, and by heating with dilute acids into dextrose. Cf. Sugar, Inulin, and Lichenin."  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality.  Addison.  [1913 Webster]

Starch hyacinth (Bot.), the grape hyacinth; -- so called because the flowers have the smell of boiled starch. See under Grape.

starch, v. t. 

 To stiffen with starch.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

starch, n. & v.
--n.
1 an odourless tasteless polysaccharide occurring widely in plants and obtained chiefly from cereals and potatoes, forming an important constitutent of the human diet.
2 a preparation of this for stiffening fabric before ironing.
3 stiffness of manner; formality.
--v.tr. stiffen (clothing) with starch.

Idiom

starch-reduced (esp. of food) containing less than the normal proportion of starch.

Derivative

starcher n.

Etymology

earlier as verb: ME sterche f. OE stercan (unrecorded) stiffen f. Gmc: cf. STARK

THESAURUS

starch

aggressiveness, albumen, bang, batter, bonnyclabber, butter, carbohydrate, clabber, cornstarch, cream, curd, dash, dough, drive, egg white, enterprise, fire, gaum, gel, gelatin, get-up-and-go, getup, ginger, glair, glop, glue, gluten, go, goo, gook, goop, gruel, gumbo, gunk, hydroxy aldehyde, hydroxy ketone, initiative, jam, jell, jelly, kick, loblolly, molasses, monosaccharide, mucilage, mucus, pap, paste, pep, pepper, piss and vinegar, pizzazz, polysaccharide, polysaccharose, poop, porridge, pudding, pulp, punch, puree, push, putty, rob, saccharide, semifluid, semiliquid, size, snap, soup, spunk, sticky mess, sugar, syrup, thrust, treacle, trisaccharide, verve, vim, vitality, zing, zip

ROGET THESAURUS

starch

Affectation

N affectation, affectedness, acting a part, pretense boasting, charlatanism, quackery, shallow profundity, pretension, airs, pedantry, purism, precisianism, euphuism, teratology, mannerism, simagree, grimace, conceit, foppery, dandyism, man millinery, coxcombry, puppyism, stiffness, formality, buckram, prudery, demureness, coquetry, mock modesty, minauderie, sentimentalism, mauvais honte, false shame, affector, performer, actor, pedant, pedagogue, doctrinaire, purist, euphuist, mannerist, grimacier, lump of affectation, precieuse ridicule, bas bleu, blue stocking, poetaster, prig, charlatan, petit maitre, flatterer, coquette, prude, puritan, affected, full of affectation, pretentious, pedantic, stilted, stagy, theatrical, big-sounding, ad captandum, canting, insincere, not natural, unnatural, self-conscious, maniere, artificial, overwrought, overdone, overacted, euphuist, stiff, starch, formal, prim, smug, demure, tire a quatre epingles, quakerish, puritanical, prudish, pragmatical, priggish, conceited, coxcomical, foppish, dandified, finical, finikin, mincing, simpering, namby-pamby, sentimental, conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.

Pride

N pride, dignity, self-respect, mens sibi conscia recti, pride, haughtiness, high notions, hauteur, vainglory, crest, arrogance, proud man, highflier, fine gentleman, fine lady, dignified, stately, proud, proud-crested, lordly, baronial, lofty- minded, highsouled, high-minded, high-mettled, high-handed, high- plumed, high-flown, high-toned, haughty lofty, high, mighty, swollen, puffed up, flushed, blown, vainglorious, purse-proud, fine, proud as a peacock, proud as Lucifer, bloated with pride, supercilious, disdainful, bumptious, magisterial, imperious, high and mighty, overweening, consequential, arrogant, unblushing, stiff, stiff-necked, starch, perked stuck-up, in buckram, strait- laced, prim, on one's dignity, on one's high horses, on one's tight ropes, on one's high ropes, on stilts, en grand seigneur, with head erect, odi profanum vulgus et arceo, a duke's revenues on her back, disdains the shadow which he treads on at noon, pride in their port, defiance in their eye.

Hardness

N hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board.

Semiliquidity

N semiliquidity, stickiness, viscidity, viscosity, gummosity, glutinosity, mucosity, spissitude, crassitude, lentor, adhesiveness, inspissation, incrassation, thickening, jelly, mucilage, gelatin, gluten, carlock, fish glue, ichthyocol, ichthycolla, isinglass, mucus, phlegm, goo, pituite, lava, glair, starch, gluten, albumen, milk, cream, protein, treacle, gum, size, glue (tenacity), wax, beeswax, emulsion, soup, squash, mud, slush, slime, ooze, moisture, marsh, semifluid, semiliquid, tremellose, half melted, half frozen, milky, muddy, lacteal, lactean, lacteous, lactescent, lactiferous, emulsive, curdled, thick, succulent, uliginous, gelatinous, albuminous, mucilaginous, glutinous, glutenous, gelatin, mastic, amylaceous, ropy, clammy, clotted, viscid, viscous, sticky, tacky, gooey, slab, slabby, lentous, pituitous, mucid, muculent, mucous, gummy.