Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
STARCHES
starches
(noun) foodstuff rich in natural starch (especially potatoes, rice, bread)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Noun
starches
plural of starch
Verb
starches
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of starch
Anagrams
• Charests, charsets
Source: Wiktionary
STARCH
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
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
10 March 2025
FABLED
(adjective) celebrated in fable or legend; “the fabled Paul Bunyan and his blue ox”; “legendary exploits of Jesse James”
Coffee Trivia
