Starch /(stärch)/

Starch

a.
  1. Stiff; precise; rigid. [R.]

Starch

n.
  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. 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.

Starch

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Starched; p. pr. & vb. n. Starching

  1. To stiffen with starch.