Starch

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Starch \Starch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Starched} (st[aum]rcht);
     p. pr. & vb. n. {Starching}.]
     To stiffen with starch.
     [1913 Webster] Star chamber

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Starch \Starch\ (st[aum]rch), a. [AS. stearc stark, strong,
     rough. See {Stark}.]
     Stiff; precise; rigid. [R.] --Killingbeck.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Starch \Starch\, n. [From starch stiff, cf. G. st[aum]rke, fr.
     stark strong.]
     1. (Chem.) 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]
  
     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}.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. 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}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  starch
       n : 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 [syn: {amylum}]
       v : stiffen with starch; "starch clothes"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  81 Moby Thesaurus words for "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