clearstarch

English

Etymology

clear +‎ starch

Verb

clearstarch (third-person singular simple present clearstarches, present participle clearstarching, simple past and past participle clearstarched)

1. (transitive, archaic) To stiffen with starch, and then make clear by clapping with the hands.

   to clearstarch muslin

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     Had always said and believed that Pickwick would marry Mrs. Bardell; knew that Mrs. Bardell's being engaged to Pickwick was the current topic of conversation in the neighbourhood, after the fainting in July; had been told it herself by Mrs. Mudberry which kept a mangle, and Mrs. Bunkin which clearstarched, but did not see either Mrs. Mudberry or Mrs. Bunkin in court.

Derived terms

• clearstarcher

 

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “clearstarch”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)