“start” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. the beginning of something ○ Building the house took only six months from start to finish. ○ Things went wrong from the start. ○ Let’s forget all you’ve done up to now, and make a fresh start. □ for a start as the first point ○ For a start, tell me the exact time when you made the phone call. 2. leaving for a journey ○ We’re planning on a 6 o’clock start. □ let’s make an early start tomorrow let’s leave early 3. a place where a race begins ○ The cars were lined up at the start. 4. being in advance of other competitors ○ We’ll never catch them, they have three hours’ start on us. ○ I’ll give you four yards’ start. 5. a sudden jump of surprise ○ She gave a start when he put his hand on her shoulder. ■ verb 1. to begin to do something ○ When you learn Russian, you have to start by learning the alphabet. ○ The babies all started to cry or all started crying at the same time. ○ He started to eat or he started eating his dinner before the rest of the family. ○ Take an umbrella – it’s starting to rain. □ to start with first of all ○ We have lots to do but to start with we’ll do the washing up. 2. to leave on a journey ○ We plan to start at 6 o’clock. 3. (of a machine) to begin to work ○ The car won’t start – the battery must be flat. ○ The engine started beautifully. 4. to make a machine begin to work ○ I can’t start the computer. ○ It is difficult to start a car in cold weather. 5. to make something begin to happen ○ He fired a gun to start the race. ○ The police think that the fire was started deliberately. 6. to jump with surprise ○ She started when she heard the bang.

“the START,” London,—the great starting-point for beggars and
tramps. This is a term also used by many of superior station to those
mentioned.

a proceeding of any kind; “a rum START,” an odd circumstance;
“to get the START of a person,” to anticipate or overreach him.

v. i. [imp. & p. p. started; p. pr. & vb. n. starting.] [OE. sterten; akin to D. storten 8hurl, rush, fall, G. stürzen, OHG. sturzen to turn over, to fall, Sw. störa to cast down, to fall, Dan. styrte, and probably also to E. start a tail; the original sense being, perhaps, to show the tail, to tumble over suddenly. rad.166. Cf. Start a tail.]
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.” Chaucer. “I start as from some dreadful dream.” Dryden. “Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside.” I. Watts. “But if he start,
It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.” Shak.
3. To set out; to commence a course, as a race or journey; to begin; as to start business. “At once they start, advancing in a line.” Dryden. “At intervals some bird from out the brakes
Starts into voice a moment, then is still.” Byron.
4. To become somewhat displaced or loosened; as a rivet or a seam may start under strain or pressure. 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.

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?” Shak. “Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.” Shak.
2. To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent. “Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.” Sir W. Temple.
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.” Addison.
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. [Perh. from D. storten, which has this meaning also.] (Naut.) To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from; as to start a water cask.