English
start
see also: Start, START
Pronunciation Noun

start (plural starts)

  1. The beginning of an activity.
    The movie was entertaining from start to finish.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act 3, scene i]:
      I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, / Straining upon the start.
  2. A sudden involuntary movement.
    He woke with a start.
    • Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.
    • , Olalla
      The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me […]
  3. The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.
    Captured pieces are returned to the start of the board.
  4. An appearance in a sports game, horserace, etc., from the beginning of the event.
    Jones has been a substitute before, but made his first start for the team last Sunday.
  5. (horticulture) A young plant germinated in a pot to be transplanted later.
    • 2009, Liz Primeau, ‎Steven A. Frowine, Gardening Basics For Canadians For Dummies
      You generally see nursery starts at garden centres in mid to late spring. Small annual plants are generally sold in four-packs or larger packs, with each cell holding a single young plant.
  6. An initial advantage over somebody else; a head start.
    to get, or have, the start
Translations Translations Translations Verb

start (starts, present participle starting; past and past participle started)

  1. (transitive) To begin, commence, initiate.
    1. To set in motion.
      to start a stream of water;   to start a rumour;   to start a business
      • April 2, 1716, Joseph Addison, Freeholder No. 30
        I was some years ago engaged in conversation with a fashionable French Abbe, upon a subject which the people of that kingdom love to start in discourse.
    2. To begin.
    3. To initiate operation of a vehicle or machine.
      to start the engine
    4. To put or raise (a question, an objection); to put forward (a subject for discussion).
    5. To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent.
      • Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.
  2. (intransitive) To begin an activity.
    The rain started at 9:00.
  3. (intransitive) To have its origin (at), begin.
    The speed limit is 50 km/h, starting at the edge of town.
    The blue line starts one foot away from the wall.
  4. To startle or be startled; to move or be moved suddenly.
    1. (intransitive) To jerk suddenly in surprise.
      • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act 5, scene v]:
        But if he start, / It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
      • I start as from some dreadful dream.
      • Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside.
      • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXXI:
        [...] The tempest's mocking elf / Points to the shipman thus the unseen shelf / He strikes on, only when the timbers start.
    2. (intransitive) To awaken suddenly.
      • I started from my sleep with horror […]
    3. (transitive) To disturb and cause to move suddenly; to startle; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee or fly.
      The hounds started a fox.
      • c. 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act I, Scene i:
        […] Upon malicious bravery dost thou come / To start my quiet?
    4. (transitive) To move suddenly from its place or position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate.
      to start a bone;   the storm started the bolts in the vessel
      • One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternum.
  5. (intransitive) To break away, to come loose.
    • 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352 ↗, page 76 ↗:
      {...}} we could, with the greateſt eaſe, as well as clearneſs, ſee all objects, (ourſelves unſeen) only by applying our eyes cloſe to the crevice, where the moulding of a pannel had warp'd, or ſtarted a little on the other ſide.
  6. (transitive, sports) To put into play.
    • 2010, Brian Glanville, The Story of the World Cup: The Essential Companion to South Africa 2010, London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 9780571236053, page 361 ↗:
      The charge against Zagallo then is not so much that he started Ronaldo, but that when it should surely have been clear that the player was in no fit state to take part he kept him on.
  7. (transitive, nautical) To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.
    to start a water cask
  8. (intransitive, euphemistic) To start one's periods (menstruation).
    Have you started yet?
Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

start (plural starts)

  1. A tail, or anything projecting like a tail.
  2. A handle, especially that of a plough.
  3. The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water wheel bucket.
  4. The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.
Start
Noun

start (plural starts)

  1. A typical button for video games, originally used to start a game, now also often to pause or choose an option.
Proper noun
  1. Surname
START
Noun

start (uncountable)

  1. (medical) Acronym of simple triage and rapid treatment
Proper noun
  1. (law) Acronym of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty


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