starch bluen.adj.
/ˌstɑːtʃ ˈbluː/, U.S. /ˌstɑrtʃ ˈblu/ A. n.
1.
a. A blue powder (spec. smalt or azure) used to dye starch. Now historical.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > blue colouring matter > [noun] > blue pigment > specific
azurec1374
lapis lazulia1425
litmusc1503
verditer1505
florey1527
bice1548
smalt1558
smalts1591
smalt1598
ultramarine1598
litmus blue1612
verditer1665
ultramarine blue (or colour)1686
blue sublimate1700
Prussian blue1724
terre bleue1728
starch blue1742
king's blue1778
verditel1778
Antwerp brown1787
Berlin blue1794
lacmus1794
Antwerp blue1795
French blue1802
lapis1811
Waterloo blue1815
Waterloo1823
cobalt1835
Thénard's blue1837
iron blue1839
turnsole1839
permanent blue1863
opal blue1880
Haarlem blue1885
cyanine blue1886
cerulean blue1889
Victoria blue1890
Milori blue1899
Prussian1911
Windsor blue1912
gentianine1927
Monastral1936
Alcian Blue1947
the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > blue colouring matter > [noun] > dyes and dyestuffs > other dyes
stone-blue1675
starch blue1742
Saxon blue1753
fig-blue1786
chemic1792
Turkey blue1815
Paris blue1835
Saxony blue1857
soluble blue1879
methylene blue1882
indoin1884
phenylene blue1884
indamine1888
Nile blue1888
gallamine blue1889
neutral blue1889
chrome-blue1892
toluidine blue1898
indanthrene1901
Saxe blue1905
trypan blue1911
mandarin blue1912
1742 J. Martyn & E. Chambers tr. Philos. Hist. & Mem. Royal Acad. Sci. Paris V. 92 The turquois..is above all things to be free of any cast of whiteness, that is, as the jewellers express it, it must not resemble starch blue [Fr. bleu d'empois], but the blue rather of verdigrease in the lump.
1797 Encycl. Brit. II. 707/2 Azure is employed to colour starch; hence it has also been called starch-blue.
1969 Stud. Conservation 14 47 Smalt... Obsolete terminology and synonyms. Starch blue.
2012 E. Bergslien Introd. Forensic Geoscience (ed. 2) viii. 301 Smalt (starch blue) is a pigment composed of ground blue-tinted glass and was the earliest of the cobalt pigments.
b. A pale shade of blue or greenish-blue.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [noun] > light blue
watchetc1405
vessey colour1562
fesse1587
Venice blue1598
Turkey colour1661
powder blue1752
Eton blue1851
ice-blue1851
periwinkle blue1852
Cambridge blue1858
baby blue1861
starch blue1875
duck's egg1876
pervenche1876
opal blue1881
periwinkle1895
pervenche blue1898
harebell blue1909
horizon-blue1919
Nattier blue1923
zircon blue1928
Mary blue1943
the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [noun] > greenish blue
peacock colour1598
verditer1819
verdigris blue1832
robin's-egg blue1844
aquamarine1846
turquoise1853
verditer blue1857
bird's-egg blue1858
Alice1872
Nile blue1873
starch blue1875
cyan-blue1879
peacock1881
peacock blue1881
bird's egg1885
Gobelin blue1886
cyan1889
Nile1895
kingfisher1901
Alice blue1905
teal1923
aqua1936
teal blue1949
1875 Hand Bk. Visitors examining Pottery & Porcelain (Metrop. Mus. Art) 49 Vase. Celadon of ‘starch-blue’, with raised work.
1910 Metropol. Mus. Art Bull. 5 73/2 The color of the modern Kuan glaze appears to be a crackled lavender, either light or dark, the ‘starch blue’ of the dealer.
1990 Contemp. Rev. May 271 Bellowing with light and space; bursting in mile-long breakers of soap-stone green and starch blue.
2. = starch iodide n. at starch n. Compounds 3. Now rare.
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1836 J. Inglis in London & Edinb. Philos. Mag. & Jrnl. Sci. 8 14 The water precipitates starch blue.
1892 H. E. Wright Handy Bk. Brewers vi. 211 It is possible by the addition of a very little, and that dilute, iodine solution to cause the starch-blue to develop.
1903 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 30 60 If these solutions [of formalin and starch] are treated with NH4OH..iodine will again give the typical starch blue.
1948 Science 17 Sept. 302/1 After complete extraction of the iodine,..no radioactivity was found in the starch blue.
B. adj.
Of a pale blue or greenish-blue colour.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [adjective] > light blue
bluec1400
watchet1496
azurine1577
watchet-coloured1609
turkina1630
watercoloured1660
powder blue1789
Eton blue1851
opal blue1856
starch blue1875
watchet-hued1895
the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [adjective] > greenish blue
turquoise1573
pavonaceous1688
aquamarine1846
verditer1857
robin's egg1871
peacock1873
starch blue1875
bird's-egg blue1878
Alice blue1905
kingfisher1930
teal blue1949
1875 Hand Bk. Visitors examining Pottery & Porcelain (Metrop. Mus. Art) 49 Bottle. ‘Starch-blue’ Celadon fleuré.
1888 S. F. Latimer Eng. in Canary Isles (ed. 2) xx. 272 The bladder [of the Portuguese man-of-war] is of a starch-blue clearness.
1913 Illustr. Catal. Oriental Porcelain Estate M. C. D. Borden (Amer. Art Assoc., N.Y.) No. 239 Starch-blue bottle-shape vase.
1978 Arch. Asian Art 31 139/3 Saucer: Ch'ien-lung era.., porcelain, starch-blue glaze.
2011 A. Berry Water Children (2012) 105 The rays of a milky sun, magnified through the starch-blue glass of the sky, scorch down mercilessly on both town and country alike.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1742