Pronunciations (7)
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/stɑːt/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/stɑɹt/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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/stät/
Pronunciation notes
- Eastern-New-England
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/stɑrt/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
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/start/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
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[sta̠ɹ̠t̚]
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[ʃtɛ̝ɹ̠θ̠]
Noun
The beginning of an activity.
- Examples
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The movie was entertaining from start to finish.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, / Straining upon the start.
A sudden involuntary movement.
- Examples
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He woke with a start.
Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.
More examples (1)
The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me […]
The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.
- Examples
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Captured pieces are returned to the start of the board.
An appearance in a sports game, horserace, etc., from the beginning of the event.
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Jones has been a substitute before, but made his first start for the team last Sunday.
More examples (1)
Wilshere, who made his first start for England in the midweek friendly win over Denmark, raced into the penalty area and chose to cross rather than shoot - one of the very few poor selections he made in the match.
A young plant germinated in a pot to be transplanted later.
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More examples (1)
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.
An initial advantage over somebody else; a head start.
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to get, or have, the start
The man has got two clear days' start and the chances are nine to one against catching him.
A happening or proceeding.
Usage- UK usage
- Archaic
- Slang
- Examples
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“It's a rum start, old John Madingley's coming down to Tunnleton,” said Grafton, one evening in the smoking-room; […]
Verb
To begin, commence, initiate. To set in motion.
Usage- ergative
- Examples
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to start a stream of water; to start a rumour; to start a business
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.
More examples (1)
In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
To begin, commence, initiate. To begin.
Usage- ergative
- Examples
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The President fired the gun to start the footrace.
The rain started at 9:00.
More examples (2)
Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.
To begin, commence, initiate. To ready the operation of a vehicle or machine.
Usage- ergative
- Examples
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to start the engine
To begin, commence, initiate. To put or raise (a question, an objection); to put forward (a subject for discussion).
Usage- ergative
To begin, commence, initiate. To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent.
Usage- ergative
- Examples
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Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.
To have its origin (at), begin.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The speed limit is 50 km/h, starting at the edge of town.
The blue line starts one foot away from the wall.
To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle. To jerk, jump up, flinch, or draw back in surprise.
Usage- Intransitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
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But if he start, It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
More examples (1)
I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze thy young blood, Make thy tvvo eyes like Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, Thy knotty and combined locks to part, And each particular haire to ſtand an end, Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: […]
I start as from some dreadful dream.
More examples (4)
Keep your soul to the work when it is ready to start aside.
[...] The tempest's mocking elf Points to the shipman thus the unseen shelf He strikes on, only when the timbers start.
Suddenly his eye fell on the screen that he had placed in front of the portrait, and he started.
Physical poison would make them start from arsenicked bread; shall not the moral poison which is in it, make them start more promptly still from slave produce?
To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle. To awaken suddenly.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; [...]
To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle. To disturb and set in motion; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The hounds started a fox.
Upon malicious bravery dost thou come To start my quiet?
To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle. To come loose, to break free of a firmly set position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate.
Usage- ergative
- of an object
- Examples
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the storm started the bolts in the vessel
One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternon.
More examples (1)
[...] 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.
To put into play.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
“Look at Portu,” Michel insisted, “he scores goals and I never start him. He says: ‘You’re sinking me, but OK, I’ll just go out and score again.’”
To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to start a water cask
To begin one's menstrual cycle.
Usage- euphemistic
- Intransitive
- Examples
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Have you started yet?
To begin a journey; to set forth.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- possibly
- Examples
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More examples (1)
I GET letters from you far too seldom considering that you can much more easily find people starting for Rome than I to Athens: considering, too, that you are more certain of my being at Rome than I of your being at Athens.
Noun
An instance of starting.
- Related words
Noun
A projection or protrusion; that which pokes out.
The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water wheel bucket.
- Examples
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The fall of water is 6 feet, and the radius of the curve is 8 feet, from the centre of the water-wheel to the extreme point of the start.
The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
... horses, a number of men who seemed to acquire strength as the necessity for it increased, applied their shoulders to the starts, or shafts of the gin, and worked it with extraordinary speed. By twelve o'clock, thirty-two[…]
[…] so that the horse may not expend his force in an oblique direction, but get a fair pull on the "starts."
More examples (1)
With iron posts it is of course impossible to mortise in the starts and they were bolted between two cast-iron plates instead. The inclined stays were bolted to a[…]
Adverb
Completely, utterly.
Usage- Archaic
- dialectal
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Col.—The age has no sense—the people are start mad—as mad as a March mare. We should have fine times, indeed if our laws did'nt compel the poor people to protect the property of the rich.
Noun
the beginning of anything
- Broader terms
- Examples
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it was off to a good start
the time at which something is supposed to begin
- Broader terms
- Examples
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they got an early start
she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her
a turn to be a starter (in a game at the beginning)
- Synonyms
- Examples
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he got his start because one of the regular pitchers was in the hospital
his starting meant that the coach thought he was one of their best linemen
a sudden involuntary movement
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he awoke with a start
the act of starting something
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations
a line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a signal to begin (as in a race)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the starting signal was a green light
the runners awaited the start
the advantage gained by beginning early (as in a race)
- Synonyms
- Examples
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with an hour's start he will be hard to catch
Verb
take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
- Examples
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We began working at dawn
Who will start?
More examples (4)
Get working as soon as the sun rises!
The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia
He began early in the day
Let's get down to work now
set in motion, cause to start
- Examples
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The U.S. started a war in the Middle East
The Iraqis began hostilities
More examples (1)
begin a new chapter in your life
depart for someplace
- Examples
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The family took off for Florida
have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The DMZ begins right over the hill
The second movement begins after the Allegro
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Prices for these homes start at $250,000
bring into being
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He initiated a new program
Start a foundation
get off the ground
- Examples
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Who started this company?
We embarked on an exciting enterprise
More examples (4)
I start my day with a good breakfast
We began the new semester
The afternoon session begins at 4 PM
The blood shed started when the partisans launched a surprise attack
move or jump suddenly, as if in surprise or alarm
- Broader terms
- Examples
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She startled when I walked into the room
get going or set in motion
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
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We simply could not start the engine
start up the computer
begin or set in motion
- Antonyms
- Examples
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I start at eight in the morning
Ready, set, go!
begin work or acting in a certain capacity, office or job
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Take up a position
start a new job
play in the starting lineup
- Broader terms
have a beginning characterized in some specified way
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The novel begins with a murder
My property begins with the three maple trees
More examples (2)
Her day begins with a workout
The semester begins with a convocation ceremony
begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object
- Synonyms
- Examples
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begin a cigar
She started the soup while it was still hot
More examples (1)
We started physics in 10th grade
bulge outward
- Broader terms
- Examples
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His eyes popped