a white, tasteless, odorless food substance found in potatoes, rice, corn, wheat, cassava, and many other vegetable foods: it is a granular solid, chemically a complex carbohydrate, (CHO), and is used in adhesives, sizes, foods, cosmetics, medicine, etc.
a powdered form of this, used in laundering for stiffening cloth, fabrics, etc.
A naturally abundant nutrient carbohydrate, (C6H10O5)n, found chiefly in the seeds, fruits, tubers, roots, and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice, and varying widely in appearance according to source but commonly prepared as a white amorphous tasteless powder.
Any of various substances, such as natural starch, used to stiffen cloth, as in laundering.
starches Foods having a high content of starch, as rice, breads, and potatoes.
a. Stiff behavior.
b. Vigor; mettle: “Business travel can take the starch out of the most self-assured corporate titan”(Lisa Faye Kaplan).