starch

starch
    n 1: 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: {starch}, {amylum}]
    2: a commercial preparation of starch that is used to stiffen
       textile fabrics in laundering
    v 1: stiffen with starch; "starch clothes"
    

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

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

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]
    

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