stiff; precise; rigid.-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.-fig.: a stiff, formal manner; formality.-to stiffen with starch.