Definition of "starched"
starched
adjective
comparative more starched, superlative most starched
Stiff, formal, rigid; prim and proper.
Quotations
Does the Gospel any where prescribe a starched squeezed Countenance, a stiff formal Gait, a Singularity of Manners and Habit, or any affected Modes of Speech, different from the reasonable Part of Mankind?
1712, Jonathan Swift, “An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity”, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, volume 1, Dublin: George Faulkner, published 1751, pages 102-103
A cultivated understanding, and an affectionate heart, will never want starched rules of decorum—something more substantial than seemliness will be the result; and, without understanding the behaviour here recommended, would be rank affectation.
1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 5, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792
I was not a little startled at recognising in his companions that very Morris on whose account I had been summoned before Justice Inglewood, and Mr. MacVittie the merchant, from whose starched and severe aspect I had recoiled on the preceding day.
1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown