clearstarch

From clear +‎ starch.

clearstarch (third-person singular simple present clearstarches, present participle clearstarching, simple past and past participle clearstarched)

1. (transitive, archaic) To stiffen with starch, and then make clear by clapping with the hands.

   to clearstarch caps

   to clearstarch muslin

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     Had always said and believed that Pickwick would marry Mrs. Bardell; knew that Mrs. Bardell's being engaged to Pickwick was the current topic of conversation in the neighbourhood, after the fainting in July; had been told it herself by Mrs. Mudberry which kept a mangle, and Mrs. Bunkin which clearstarched, but did not see either Mrs. Mudberry or Mrs. Bunkin in court.

• “clearstarch”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.