starch

1. 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.
2. (nutrition) Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.
3. A stiff, formal manner; formality.
4. Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener

1. To apply or treat with laundry starch, to create a hard, smooth surface.

   She starched her blouses.

adjective

Stiff; precise; rigid.