start /(stärt)/

start

v. i.

imp. & p. p. started; p. pr. & vb. n. starting

  1. To leap; to jump. [Obs.]
  2. To move suddenly, as with a spring or leap, from surprise, pain, or other sudden feeling or emotion, or by a voluntary act.
    And maketh him out of his sleep to start.
    I start as from some dreadful dream.
    Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside.
    But if he start, It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
  3. To set out; to commence a course, as a race or journey; to begin; as, to start in business.
    At once they start, advancing in a line.
    At intervals some bird from out the brakes Starts into voice a moment, then is still.
  4. To become somewhat displaced or loosened; as, a rivet or a seam may start under strain or pressure.

Phrases & Compounds
To start after
to set out after; to follow; to pursue.
To start against
to act as a rival candidate against.
To start for
to be a candidate for, as an office.
To start up
to rise suddenly, as from a seat or couch; to come suddenly into notice or importance.

Start

v. t.
  1. To cause to move suddenly; to disturb suddenly; to startle; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee or fly; as, the hounds started a fox.
    Upon malicious bravery dost thou come To start my quiet?
    Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
  2. To bring into being or into view; to originate; to invent.
    Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.
  3. To cause to move or act; to set going, running, or flowing; as, to start a railway train; to start a mill; to start a stream of water; to start a rumor; to start a business.
    I was engaged in conversation upon a subject which the people love to start in discourse.
  4. To move suddenly from its place or position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate; as, 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.
    — Wiseman.
  5. To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from; as, to start a water cask. (Naut.)

Start

n.
  1. The act of starting; a sudden spring, leap, or motion, caused by surprise, fear, pain, or the like; any sudden motion, or beginning of motion.
    The fright awakened Arcite with a start.
  2. A convulsive motion, twitch, or spasm; a spasmodic effort.
    For she did speak in starts distractedly.
    Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.
  3. A sudden, unexpected movement; a sudden and capricious impulse; a sally; as, starts of fancy.
    To check the starts and sallies of the soul.
  4. The beginning, as of a journey or a course of action; first motion from a place; act of setting out; the outset; -- opposed to finish.
    The start of first performance is all.
    I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start.
    At a start he was betwixt them two.

Phrases & Compounds
At a start
at once; in an instant.
To get the start
to begin before another; to gain or have the advantage in a similar undertaking; -- usually with of.

Start

n.
  1. A tail, or anything projecting like a tail.
  2. The handle, or tail, of a plow; also, any long handle. [Prov. Eng.]
  3. The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water-wheel bucket.
  4. The arm, or lever, of a gin, drawn around by a horse. (Mining)

START

n.
  1. A Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union which provided for stepwise reductions in the number of nuclear weapons possessed by each country.