starch

v. stiffen with starch; make rigid, make stiff

n. edible complex carbohydrate found in plants; substance used to stiffen fabrics; formality, stiffness of manner

Starch (CAS# 9005-25-8, chemical formula (C6H10O5)n,) is a mixture of amylose and amylopectin (usually in 20:80 or 30:70 ratios). These are both complex carbohydrate polymers of glucose (chemical formula of glucose C6H12O6), making starch a glucose polymer as well, as seen by the chemical formula for starch, regardless of the ratio of amylose:amylopectin.
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Starch 1. any of a group of polysaccharides of the general formula, n ; it is the chief storage form of carbohydrates in plants. 2. [more]Starch - Community and Resources

Noun
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
(synonym) amylum
(hypernym) polysaccharide, polyose
(hyponym) arum
Verb
1. stiffen with starch; "starch clothes"
(hypernym) stiffen
(derivation) amylum

(v. t.)
To stiffen with starch.
  

(n.)
Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality.
  

(n.)
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.
  

(a.)
Stiff; precise; rigid.