Available Definitions:
1) a. - Stiff; precise; rigid.
2) n. - 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.
3) n. - Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality.
4) v. t. - To stiffen with starch.