a. dial. [f. STARK a. + -Y.] Stiff and hard; not pliable or workable.
1697. R. Peirce, Bath Mem., II. v. 312. His Hands would be as hard, dry and starky, as if he had wrought for his Living, at Cleaving of Wood.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 59. If the ground be dry and starky,… so much the better. Ibid., 426. Wool … when three years old … grows starkey and dry, and will not lie smooth in the spinning.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Starky, dry, shrivelled up.
1863. J. R. Wise, New Forest, 287, Gloss., Starky, used particularly of land which is stiff or unworkable, especially after rain.
