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

Stiff; precise; rigid.

(obsolete) Hard, firm; obdurate. / Severe; violent; fierce (now usually in describing the weather). / (poetic, literary or archaic) Strong; vigorous; powerful. / Stiff, rigid.

starkly; entirely, absolutely

(obsolete or dialect) To stiffen.

present participle of start

The act of something that starts.

A condition of severe suffering due to a lack of nutrition. / (figuratively) Severe shortage of resources.

The starvation of a large proportion of a region's population due to drought, warfare, famine or similar events.

The codon at which translation of mRNA into protein starts, encoding the first amino acid.