starch
verb
- to apply or treat with starch
noun
- long-chained carbohydrate found in foods
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈstɑːt͡ʃ/ / [ˈstɑːt͡ʃ] / /ˈstɑɹt͡ʃ/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English starche, sterche, from Old English *stierċe (“stiffness, rigidity, strength”), from Proto-West Germanic *starkī (“stiffness, rigidity, fortitude, strength”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sterg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch sterk (“strong”), Middle Low German sterke (“strength”), German Stärke (“strength", also "starch”), Swedish stärkelse (“starch”), Icelandic sterkja (“starch”). Related to English stark (“stiff, strong, vigorous, powerful”).
- Stiff; precise; rigid.
“misrepresenting Sobriety as a Starch and Formal, and Vertue as a Laborious and Slavish thing”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English starche, sterche, from Old English *stierċe (“stiffness, rigidity, strength”), from Proto-West Germanic *starkī (“stiffness, rigidity, fortitude, strength”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sterg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch sterk (“strong”), Middle Low German sterke (“strength”), German Stärke (“strength", also "starch”), Swedish stärkelse (“starch”), Icelandic sterkja (“starch”). Related to English stark (“stiff, strong, vigorous, powerful”).
- A widely diffused vegetable substance, found in seeds, bulbs and tubers, as extracted (e.g. from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) in the form of 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.
“Meronym: saccharide”
“The various elements found in food are the following: Starch, sugar, fats, albumen, mineral substances, indigestible substances.”
- Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.
- A stiff, formal manner; formality.
“this Professor is to give the society their stiffening, and infuse into their manners that beautiful political starch, which may qualify them for Levées, Conferences, Visits”
- Fortitude.
“The thought of the gun in his back put some starch in him. He needed the handrail, and he limped step by step, but he ascended at his full height.”
- Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener.
“You're the starch in my collar / You're the lace in my shoe / You will always be my necessity / I'd be lost without you”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English starche, sterche, from Old English *stierċe (“stiffness, rigidity, strength”), from Proto-West Germanic *starkī (“stiffness, rigidity, fortitude, strength”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sterg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch sterk (“strong”), Middle Low German sterke (“strength”), German Stärke (“strength", also "starch”), Swedish stärkelse (“starch”), Icelandic sterkja (“starch”). Related to English stark (“stiff, strong, vigorous, powerful”).
- To apply or treat with laundry starch, in order to create a hard, smooth surface.
“She starched her blouses.”