start definition

English start definition

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stɑːt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: stärt, IPA^(key): /stɑɹt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t

Etymology 1

From Middle English stert, from the verb sterten (“to start, startle”). See below.

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 […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, 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.

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523:

     Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.

   • 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, 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.

   • 2011 February 12, Ian Hughes, “Arsenal 2 - 0 Wolverhampton”, in BBC‎^[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.

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

7. (UK, slang, archaic) A happening or proceeding.
   • 1887, Hawley Smart, A False Start (volume 2, page 69)

     “It's a rum start, old John Madingley's coming down to Tunnleton,” said Grafton, one evening in the smoking-room; […]

Derived terms

Descendants

• → German: Start

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English sterten (“to leap up suddenly, rush out”), from Old English styrtan (“to leap up, start”), from Proto-West Germanic *sturtijan (“to startle, move, set in motion”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“to be stiff”). Cognate with Old Frisian stirta (“to fall down, tumble”), Middle Dutch sterten (“to rush, fall, collapse”) (Dutch storten), Old High German sturzen (“to hurl, plunge, turn upside down”) (German stürzen), Old High German sterzan (“to be stiff, protrude”). More at stare.

Verb

start (third-person singular simple present starts, present participle starting, simple 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.

      • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:

        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.

   2. To begin.
      • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

        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.

   4. To ready the operation of a vehicle or machine.

      to start the engine

   5. To put or raise (a question, an objection); to put forward (a subject for discussion).
   6. To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent.
      • 1674, William Temple, letter to The Countess of Essex

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

2. (intransitive) To begin an activity.

   The rain started at 9:00.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     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.

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 […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene v]:

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

      • c. 1599–1602, 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, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v], page 257, column 2:

        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: […]

      • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 6484883, (please specify the page number):

        I start as from some dreadful dream.

      • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard:

      • 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.
      • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744, page 100:

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

   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. 1603–1604 (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, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:

        Upon malicious bravery dost thou come
        To start my quiet?

   4. (intransitive) To flinch or draw back.
      • 1836, Elizur Wright, Quarterly Anti-slavery Magazine (volume 2, page 162)

        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?

   5. (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

      • 1676, Richard Wiseman, Severall Chirurgical Treatises

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

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: […] 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, 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?

Usage notes

• In uses 1.1 and 1.2 this is a catenative verb that takes the infinitive (to) or the gerund (-ing) form. There is no change in meaning.
• For more information, see Appendix:English catenative verbs

Antonyms

• (to begin):

  • (to stop) stop, end, cease
  • (to finish) finish, conclude, complete

Derived terms

• astart
• start-up
• starter
• when the looting starts, the shooting starts

Descendants

• → Dutch: starten
• → German: starten
• → Norman: stèrter
• → French: starter
• → Icelandic: starta
• → Faroese: starta
• → Norwegian Bokmål: starte
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: starta
• → Swedish: starta
• → Danish: starte
• → Slovak: štartovať

Translations

Noun

start (plural starts)

1. An instance of starting.

Derived terms

• hard start

See also

Etymology 3

From Middle English stert, start, from Old English steort, stert, from Proto-West Germanic *stert, from Proto-Germanic *stertaz (“tail”). Cognate with Dutch staart (“tail”), German Sterz (“tail, handle”), Swedish stjärt (“tail, arse”).

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.

Derived terms

1. redstart

Anagrams

• Strat, Tarts, strat, tarts

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Breton start definition

Adjective

start

1. firm, strong
2. difficult

Derived terms

• startijenn

Further reading

• Herve Ar Bihan, Colloquial Breton, pages 16 and 268: define "start" as "hard, difficult, firm"

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Crimean Tatar start definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English start.

Noun

start

1. start

Declension

References

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[2], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

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Czech start definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈstart]

Noun

start m

1. start (beginning point of a race)

Declension

Related terms

• připravit se, pozor, start

See also

• cíl m

Further reading

• start in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• start in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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Danish start definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English start.

Noun

start c (singular definite starten, plural indefinite starter)

1. start

Inflection

Verb

start

1. imperative of starte

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Dutch start definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɑrt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: start
• Rhymes: -ɑrt

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English start.

Noun

start m (plural starts, diminutive startje n)

1. start

Derived terms

• pikstart
• startbaan
• starten
• startpunt

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

start

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of starten
2. imperative of starten

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German start definition

Verb

start

1. singular imperative of starten

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Norwegian Bokmål start definition

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English start.

Noun

start m (definite singular starten, indefinite plural starter, definite plural startene)

1. a start

   fra start til mål ― from start to finish

Derived terms

• omstart
• startsted

Etymology 2

Verb

start

1. imperative of starte

References

• “start” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk start definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɑrt/

Noun

start m (definite singular starten, indefinite plural startar, definite plural startane)

1. a start (beginning)

Verb

start

1. imperative of starta

Derived terms

• omstart

References

• “start” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Polish start definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /start/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -art
• Syllabification: start

Noun

start m inan

1. (sports) start (beginning of a race)
2. (aviation) takeoff

   Z niecierpliwością czekałam na start samolotu do Paryża.

   I was impatiently waiting for the plane to Paris to take off/for its take-off.

3. participation

   Większość kibiców ucieszyła się, że zdecydował się on na start w zawodach.

   Most fans were happy to hear that he had decided to take part in the competition.

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• start in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• start in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Romanian start definition

Etymology

From English start.

Noun

start n (plural starturi)

1. start (of a race)

Declension

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Swedish start definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

start c

1. a start; a beginning (of a race)
2. the starting (of an engine)

Declension

Declension of start
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	start	starten	starter	starterna
Genitive	starts	startens	starters	starternas

Derived terms

Related terms

• starta
• starter
• startare

References

• start in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• ratts, trast

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Turkish start definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [staɾt]
• Hyphenation: start

Noun

start (definite accusative startı, plural startlar)

1. start

Usage notes

Turkish phonotactics disallows complex syllable onsets, thus speakers may epenthesize a vowel after the first consonant, pronouncing it as [sɯtaɾt].

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	start
Definite accusative	startı
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	start	startlar
Definite accusative	startı	startları
Dative	starta	startlara
Locative	startta	startlarda
Ablative	starttan	startlardan
Genitive	startın	startların
Possessive forms Nominative Singular Plural 1st singular startım startlarım 2nd singular startın startların 3rd singular startı startları 1st plural startımız startlarımız 2nd plural startınız startlarınız 3rd plural startları startları Definite accusative Singular Plural 1st singular startımı startlarımı 2nd singular startını startlarını 3rd singular startını startlarını 1st plural startımızı startlarımızı 2nd plural startınızı startlarınızı 3rd plural startlarını startlarını Dative Singular Plural 1st singular startıma startlarıma 2nd singular startına startlarına 3rd singular startına startlarına 1st plural startımıza startlarımıza 2nd plural startınıza startlarınıza 3rd plural startlarına startlarına Locative Singular Plural 1st singular startımda startlarımda 2nd singular startında startlarında 3rd singular startında startlarında 1st plural startımızda startlarımızda 2nd plural startınızda startlarınızda 3rd plural startlarında startlarında Ablative Singular Plural 1st singular startımdan startlarımdan 2nd singular startından startlarından 3rd singular startından startlarından 1st plural startımızdan startlarımızdan 2nd plural startınızdan startlarınızdan 3rd plural startlarından startlarından Genitive Singular Plural 1st singular startımın startlarımın 2nd singular startının startlarının 3rd singular startının startlarının 1st plural startımızın startlarımızın 2nd plural startınızın startlarınızın 3rd plural startlarının startlarının

Antonyms

• finiş