Definition of "start"

The beginning of an activity.  quotations  examples

A sudden involuntary movement.  quotations  examples

The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.  examples

An appearance in a sports game, horserace, etc., from the beginning of the event.  quotations  examples

(horticulture) A young plant germinated in a pot to be transplanted later.  quotations  examples

An initial advantage over somebody else; a head start.  examples

(UK, slang, archaic) A happening or proceeding.  quotations

(transitive) To begin, commence, initiate.

1. To set in motion.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     April 2, 1716, Joseph Addison, Freeholder No. 30

   • 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.

     1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

2. To begin.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30

3. To ready the operation of a vehicle or machine.  examples

4. To put or raise (a question, an objection); to put forward (a subject for discussion).  examples

5. To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.

     1674, William Temple, letter to The Countess of Essex

(intransitive) To begin an activity.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To have its origin (at), begin.  examples

To startle or be startled; to move or be moved suddenly.

1. (intransitive) To jerk suddenly in surprise.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • But if he start, It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.

     c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene v]

   • 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: […]

     c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene v], page 257, column 2

   • I start as from some dreadful dream.

     1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], (please specify the page number)

   • Keep your soul to the work when it is ready to start aside.

     1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726

   • [...] The tempest's mocking elf Points to the shipman thus the unseen shelf He strikes on, only when the timbers start.

     1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXXI

   • Suddenly his eye fell on the screen that he had placed in front of the portrait, and he started.

     1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter VIII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., page 139

2. (intransitive) To awaken suddenly.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; [...]

     1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, page 100

3. (transitive) To disturb and cause to move suddenly; to startle; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee or fly.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Upon malicious bravery dost thou come To start my quiet?

     c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]

4. (intransitive) To flinch or draw back.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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?

     1836, Elizur Wright, Quarterly Anti-slavery Magazine, volume 2, page 162

5. (transitive) To move suddenly from its place or position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternon.

     1676, Richard Wiseman, Severall Chirurgicall Treatises, London: […] E. Flesher and J. Macock, for R[ichard] Royston […], and B[enjamin] Took, […]

(intransitive) To break away, to come loose.  quotations  examples

(transitive, sports) To put into play.  quotations  examples

(transitive, nautical) To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.  examples

(intransitive, euphemistic) To start one's periods (menstruation).  examples

An instance of starting.  examples

A projection or protrusion; that which pokes out.  examples

A handle, especially that of a plough.  examples

The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water wheel bucket.  quotations  examples

The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.  examples