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Webster 1913 Edition

Starch

Starch

(stärch)
,
Adj.
[AS.
stearc
stark, strong, rough. See
Stark
.]
Stiff; precise; rigid.
[R.]
Killingbeck.

Starch

,
Noun.
[From
starch
stiff, cf. G.
stärke
, 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.
☞ 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

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Starched
(stärcht)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Starching
.]
To stiffen with starch.

Webster 1828 Edition

Starch

STARCH

,
Noun.
[G., strength, starch; strong. See Stare and Steer.] A substance used to stiffen linen and other cloth. It is the fecula of flour , or a substance that subsides from water mixed with wheat flour. It is sometimes made from potatoes. Starch forms the greatest portion of farinaceous substances, particularly of wheat flour, and it si the chief aliment of bread.

STARCH

,
Adj.
Stiff; precise; rigid.

STARCH

,
Verb.
T.
To stiffen with starch.

Definition 2024

starch

starch

English

Noun

starch ‎(countable and uncountable, plural starches)

  1. (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.
  2. (nutrition, countable) Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.
  3. (uncountable, figuratively) A stiff, formal manner; formality.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Addison to this entry?)
  4. (countable) Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. To apply or treat with laundry starch, to create a hard, smooth surface.
    She starched her blouses.

Translations

Adjective

starch ‎(not comparable)

  1. Stiff; precise; rigid.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Killingbeck to this entry?)

Derived terms

Translations

References

  • starch in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English starche ‎(noun), from *starche, sterch ‎(“stiff”, adj), an assibilated form of Middle English stark, sterk ‎(“strong; stiff”), from Old English stearc ‎(“stark; strong; rough”). Compare Middle High German sterke, German Stärke. More at stark.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /stɑɹtʃ/
  • (UK) IPA(key): /stɑːtʃ/
  • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tʃ

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