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starch

Pronunciation: /stɑːtʃ/

Translate starch | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of starch

noun

[mass noun]
  • 1an odourless, tasteless white substance occurring widely in plant tissue and obtained chiefly from cereals and potatoes. It is a polysaccharide which functions as a carbohydrate store and is an important constituent of the human diet.
  • food containing starch: they eat far too much starch
  • 2powder or spray made from starch and used before ironing to stiffen fabric or clothing: crisp linen, stiff with starch
  • 3stiffness of manner or character:the starch in her voice

verb

[with object]
  • 1stiffen (fabric or clothing) with starch: (as adjective starched)his immaculately starched shirt
  • 2North American informal (of a boxer) defeat (an opponent) by a knockout: Ray Domenge starched Jeff Geddami in the first

Phrases

take the starch out of

US deflate or humiliate (someone): a blistering body attack took all the starch out of the boxer

Derivatives

starcher

noun

Origin:

Old English (recorded only in the past participle sterced 'stiffened'), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch sterken, German stärken 'strengthen', also to stark

starch in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of starch in the US English dictionary

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