starch
[stahrch]
- a white, tasteless, solid carbohydrate, (C6H10O5)n, occurring in the form of minute granules in the seeds, tubers, and other parts of plants, and forming an important constituent of rice, corn, wheat, beans, potatoes, and many other vegetable foods.
- a commercial preparation of this substance used to stiffen textile fabrics in laundering.
- starches, foods rich in natural starch.
- stiffness or formality, as of manner: He is so full of starch he can't relax.
- Informal. vigor; energy; stamina; boldness.
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- to stiffen or treat with starch.
- to make stiff or rigidly formal (sometimes followed by up).
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Origin of starch
1375–1425; (v.) late Middle English sterchen orig., to stiffen, Old English stercean to make stiff, strengthen, derivative of stearc stark; cognate with German stärken to strengthen; (noun) late Middle English starch(e), sterche, derivative of the v.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for starch
Contemporary Examples
Sugar and lots of starch will give you a boost followed by a crash that will end your late night partying.
Making it with quinoa instead of rice gives you the wonderful taste and comfort of risotto without all that starch.
Tsai: The ratio of vegetables to meat to starch is much higher.
Five World-Famous Chefs Give Their Take on the Asian-Food Craze in AmericaMarlow Stern
April 29, 2012
Historical Examples
I honor the girl's spirit for not disguising it with starch and pomatum.
Starch is made from it both for the laundry and for the manufacture of farina, dextrin, etc.
StoryologyBenjamin Taylor
The dried pulp from which the starch has been extracted is used for making boxes.
StoryologyBenjamin Taylor
That dust, on being transferred to the stage of a microscope, was found to contain an enormous number of starch grains.
It is these starch grains which form many of those bright specks that we see dancing in a ray of light sometimes.
starch
- a polysaccharide composed of glucose units that occurs widely in plant tissues in the form of storage granules, consisting of amylose and amylopectinRelated adjective: amylaceous
- Also called: amylum a starch obtained from potatoes and some grain: it is fine white powder that forms a translucent viscous solution on boiling with water and is used to stiffen fabric and in many industrial processes
- any food containing a large amount of starch, such as rice and potatoes
- stiff or pompous formality of manner or conduct
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- (tr) to stiffen with or soak in starch
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- (of a person) formal; stiff
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Word Origin
Old English stercan (unattested except by the past participle sterced) to stiffen; related to Old Saxon sterkian, Old High German sterken to strengthen, Dutch sterken; see stark
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for starch
v.
c.1400, from Old English *stercan (Mercian), *stiercan (West Saxon) "make rigid," found in stercedferhð "fixed, hard, resolute" (related to stearc "stiff"), from Proto-Germanic *starkijanan (cf. German Stärke "strength, starch"), from PIE root *ster- "strong, firm, stiff, rigid" (see stark). Related: Starched; starching.
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n.
"pasty substance used to stiffen cloth," mid-15c., from starch (v.). Figurative sense of "stiffness of manner" is recorded from 1705.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
starch
(stärch)- A naturally abundant nutrient carbohydrate found chiefly in the seeds, fruits, tubers, roots, and stem pith of plants, and commonly prepared as a white, amorphous, tasteless powder used in powders, ointments, and pastes.amylum
- A food having a high content of starch, such as rice, bread, and potatoes.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
starch
[stärch]
- A carbohydrate that is the chief form of stored energy in plants, especially wheat, corn, rice, and potatoes. Starch is a mixture of two different polysaccharides built out of glucose units, and forms a white, tasteless powder when purified. It is an important source of nutrition and is also used to make adhesives, paper, and textiles.
- Any of various substances, including natural starch, used to stiffen fabrics.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with starch
starch
see take the starch out of.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.