starchy, a.
(ˈstɑːtʃɪ)
[f. starch n. + -y.]
1. Of or belonging to starch; resembling that of starch.
| 1802 Coleridge Lett., To W. Sotheby (1895) 384 This [cloud] is of a starchy grey. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 406 The pieces.. break with a short starchy fracture. |
2. a. Of the nature of starch; composed of or containing starch-grains.
| 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 667 The solution of diastase..separates amidin from all starchy substances containing it. 1861 Bentley Bot. 343 The albumen is described as mealy, starchy, or farinaceous, when its cells are filled with starch-grains. 1867 Chamb. Encycl. IX. 86/1 Limit the diet of the patient..to a purely starchy diet, such as arrowroot. 1913 E. Thorpe Dict. Applied Chem. V. 172/2 The starchy liquor as it comes from the sieves generally contains some sand. |
b. Of food: containing much starch.
| 1948 Good Housek. Cookery Bk. i. 12 Carbohydrates. These comprise starchy foods and sugars. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds i. 13 No one carried a pound of superfluous flesh, in spite of the vast quantities of starchy food. |
3. Of linen, etc.: Stiffened with starch.
| 1865 [implied in starchiness: see below]. |
4. fig. Of a person: Stiff, formal, precise. Also transf.
| 1828–32 Webster, Starchy, stiff, precise. 1859 Hotten's Slang Dict. 101 Starchy, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, disdainful, cross. 1864 F. W. Robinson Mattie II. 286 He was the poor relation, he fancied, and some of these starchy beings scented his poverty by instinct. 1874 ‘Mark Twain’ Lett. to Publishers (1967) 81 It will thus be a mighty starchy book. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths xiv, London had got so much nicer, she said, so much less starchy. 1897 W. C. Hazlitt Four Generations II. iv. vii. 149 My father..got into trouble by asking some rather starchy people to meet them at dinner. 1977 E. W. Hildick Loop xxiv. 164 Maybe that's putting it a bit too formal, Ralph, just a bit starchy. |
Hence ˈstarchily adv., ˈstarchiness.
| 1859 F. Francis Newton Dogvane III. ii. 51 Ned rode after her, rather piqued at what he termed ‘his sisters' starchiness’. 1865 Daily Tel. 6 May, The night-dress..had all the freshness and starchiness of one which had only just been taken for use. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. i. iii, There were no distinctively clerical lines in the face,..no tricks of starchiness or of affected ease. 1882 Ogilvie, Starchily. 1886 G. R. Sims Ring o' Bells 98 Primness and starchiness are not always the signs of a bad heart. |