adj. (B. E. and GROSE).—Affected, proud, stiff: also STARCHY. Hence STARCH, subs. = a stiff, formal manner.
1599. JONSON, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1. Look with a good STARCHED face, and ruffle your brow like a new boot.
1704. SWIFT, To the Rev. Dr. Tisdall, 20 April. I might … talk STARCHLY, and affect ignorance of what you would be at.
1711. ADDISON, The Spectator, No. 305, 19 Feb. This professor is to give the society their stiffening, and infuse into their manners that beautiful political STARCH which may qualify them for levees, conferences, visits.
1872. G. ELIOT, Middlemarch, xxii. Nothing like these STARCHY doctors for vanity.
