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starchmore about starch

starch


  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Starch  \Starch\,  a.  [AS.  stearc  stark,  strong,  rough.  See 
  {Stark}.] 
  Stiff;  precise;  rigid.  [R.]  --Killingbeck. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Starch  \Starch\,  n.  [From  starch  stiff,  cf  G.  st["a]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 
 
  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}. 
 
  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}. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Starch  \Starch\,  v.  t.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Starched};  p.  pr  &  vb  n. 
  {Starching}.] 
  To  stiffen  with  starch. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  starch 
  n  :  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:  {amylum}] 
  v  :  stiffen  with  starch;  "starch  clothes" 




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