Etimology
From Middle English stert, from the verb sterten (“to start, startle”). See below.
noun
start (plural starts)
The beginning of an activity.
A sudden involuntary movement.
The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.
An appearance in a sports game, horserace, etc., from the beginning of the event.
(horticulture) A young plant germinated in a pot to be transplanted later.
An initial advantage over somebody else; a head start.
(UK, slang, archaic) A happening or proceeding.
Examples
The movie was entertaining from start to finish.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, / Straining upon the start.
He woke with a start.
Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.
The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me […]
Captured pieces are returned to the start of the board.
Jones has been a substitute before, but made his first start for the team last Sunday.
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.
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.
to get, or have, the start
“It's a rum start, old John Madingley's coming down to Tunnleton,” said Grafton, one evening in the smoking-room; […]
Etimology
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)
(transitive) To begin, commence, initiate.
(intransitive) To begin an activity.
(intransitive) To have its origin (at), begin.
To startle or be startled; to move or be moved suddenly.
(intransitive) To break away, to come loose.
(transitive, sports) To put into play.
(transitive, nautical) To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.
(intransitive, euphemistic) To start one's periods (menstruation).
Examples
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.
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.
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.
to start the engine
Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.
The rain started at 9:00.
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.
The speed limit is 50 km/h, starting at the edge of town.
The blue line starts one foot away from the wall.
But if he start, It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
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.
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.
I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; [...]
The hounds started a fox.
Upon malicious bravery dost thou come To start my quiet?
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 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 sternon.
[...] we could, with the greateſt eaſe, as well as clearneſs, ſee all objects, 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.
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.
to start a water cask
Have you started yet?
Related words
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "to begin"):(to stop) stop, end, cease(to finish) finish, conclude, complete
(to stop) stop, end, cease
(to finish) finish, conclude, complete
noun
start (plural starts)
An instance of starting.
Etimology
From Middle English stert, start (“tail, handle, projection”), from Old English steort, from Proto-West Germanic *stert, from Proto-Germanic *stertaz (“tail”). Cognate with Scots start, stairt (“side-post, shaft, upright post”), Dutch staart (“tail”), German Sterz (“tail, handle”), Swedish stjärt (“tail, arse”).
noun
start (plural starts)
A projection or protrusion; that which pokes out.
A handle, especially that of a plough.
The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water wheel bucket.
The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.
Examples
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.
Etimology
Variant of stark.
adverb
start (comparative more start, superlative most start)
(dialectal, archaic) Completely, utterly.
Examples
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.