a complex carbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice; an important foodstuff and used otherwise especially in adhesives and as fillers and stiffeners for paper and textiles
a chemical substance derivable from a mold or bacterium that kills microorganisms and cures infections; "when antibiotics were first discovered they were called wonder drugs"