STARCH

starch

(noun) a commercial preparation of starch that is used to stiffen textile fabrics in laundering

starch, amylum

(noun) a complex carbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice; an important foodstuff and used otherwise especially in adhesives and as fillers and stiffeners for paper and textiles

starch

(verb) stiffen with starch; “starch clothes”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

starch (countable and uncountable, plural starches)

(uncountable) 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.

(nutrition, countable) Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.

(uncountable) A stiff, formal manner; formality.

(countable) Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener

Verb

starch (third-person singular simple present starches, present participle starching, simple past and past participle starched)

To apply or treat with laundry starch, to create a hard, smooth surface.

Adjective

starch (not comparable)

Stiff; precise; rigid.

Anagrams

• charts, crasht, trachs

Source: Wiktionary

Starch, a. Etym: [AS. stearc stark, strong, rough. See Stark.]

Definition: Stiff; precise; rigid. [R.] Killingbeck.

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

1. (Chem.)

Definition: 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.

Note: 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.

2. Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality. Addison. Starch hyacinth (Bot.), the grape hyacinth; -- so called because the flowers have the smell of boiled starch. See under Grape.

Starch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Starched; p. pr. & vb. n. Starching.]

Definition: To stiffen with starch.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition