-- Star showers. See Shooting star, under Shooting. -- Star thistle
(Bot.), an annual composite plant (Centaurea solstitialis) having the
involucre armed with radiating spines. -- Star wheel (Mach.), a
star-shaped disk, used as a kind of ratchet wheel, in repeating watches
and the feed motions of some machines. -- Star worm (Zoöl.), a
gephyrean. -- Temporary star (Astron.), a star which appears suddenly,
shines for a period, and then nearly or quite disappears. These stars
are supposed by some astronometers to be variable stars of long and
undetermined periods. -- Variable star (Astron.), a star whose
brilliancy varies periodically, generally with regularity, but
sometimes irregularly; -- called periodical star when its changes occur
at fixed periods. -- Water star grass (Bot.), an aquatic plant
(Schollera graminea) with small yellow starlike blossoms.
Star (stär), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Starred (stärd); p. pr. & vb. n.
Starring.] To set or adorn with stars, or bright, radiating bodies; to
bespangle; as, a robe starred with gems. "A sable curtain starred with
gold." Young.
Star, v. i. To be bright, or attract attention, as a star; to shine
like a star; to be brilliant or prominent; to play a part as a
theatrical star. W. Irving.
Star"-blind` (?), a. Half blind.
Star"board` (?), n. [OE. sterbord, AS. steórbord, i.e., steer board.
See Steer, v. t., Board of a vessel, and cf. Larboard.] (Naut.) That
side of a vessel which is on the right hand of a person who stands on
board facing the bow; - - opposed to larboard, or port.
Star"board`, a. (Naut.) Pertaining to the right-hand side of a ship;
being or lying on the right side; as, the starboard quarter; starboard
tack.
Star"board`, v. t. (Naut.) To put to the right, or starboard, side of a
vessel; as, to starboard the helm.
Star"-bow`lines (?), n. pl. (Naut.) The men in the starboard watch.
[Obs.] R. H. Dana, Jr.
Starch (stärch), a. [AS. stearc stark, strong, rough. See Stark.]
Stiff; precise; rigid. [R.] Killingbeck.
Starch, n. [From starch stiff, cf. G. stärke, fr. stark strong.] 1.
(Chem.) 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.
Starch is a carbohydrate, being the typical amylose, C6H10O5, and is
detected by the fine blue color given to it by free iodine. It is not
fermentable as such, but is changed by diastase into dextrin and
maltose, and by heating with dilute acids into dextrose. Cf. Sugar,
Inulin, and Lichenin.