start

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See also: Start, START, and štart

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

start (plural starts)

  1. The beginning of an activity.
    The movie was entertaining from start to finish.
  2. A sudden involuntary movement.
    He woke with a start.
    • (Can we date this quote by L'Estrange and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.
    • (Can we date this quote by Robert Louis Stevenson and provide title, author's full name, and other details?), 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
See also[edit]
Translations[edit]
initial advantage over somebody else — see head start
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English sterten (“to leap up suddenly, rush out”), from Old English styrtan (“to leap up, start”), from Proto-Germanic *sturtijaną (“to startle, move, set in motion”), causative of *stirtaną (“to leap, tumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *stere-, *strē- (“to be strong, steady, rigid, fixed”). 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[edit]

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
      • (Can we date this quote by Joseph Addison and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
        I was engaged in conversation upon a subject which the people love to start in discourse.
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
        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 initiate 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.
      • (Can we date this quote by Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
        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: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act 5, scene v]:
        But if he start, / It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
      • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
        I start as from some dreadful dream.
      • (Can we date this quote by Isaac Watts and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
        Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside.
      • 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.
      • (Can we date this quote by Mary Shelley and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
        I started from my sleep with horror […]
    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.
    4. (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
      • (Can we date this quote by Wiseman and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
        One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternum.
  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: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for 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[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

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.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for start in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams[edit]

Breton[edit]

Adjective[edit]

start

  1. firm, strong
  2. difficult

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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

Crimean Tatar[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Noun[edit]

start

  1. start

Declension[edit]

Declension of start
nominative start
genitive startnıñ
dative startqa
accusative startnı
locative startta
ablative starttan

References[edit]

  • Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎[3], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

Czech[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

start m

  1. start (beginning point of a race)

Declension[edit]

Declension
singular plural
nominative start starty
genitive startu startů
dative startu startům
accusative start starty
vocative starte starty
locative startu startech
instrumental startem starty

Related terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Noun[edit]

start c (singular definite starten, plural indefinite starter)

  1. start

Inflection[edit]

Declension of start
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative start starten starter starterne
genitive starts startens starters starternes

Verb[edit]

start

  1. imperative of starte

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Noun[edit]

start m (plural starts, diminutive startje n)

  1. start
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb[edit]

start

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

German[edit]

Verb[edit]

start

  1. Imperative singular of starten.

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Noun[edit]

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

  1. a start
    fra start til mål ― from start to finish
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

start

  1. imperative of starte

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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

  1. a start (beginning)

Verb[edit]

start

  1. imperative of starta

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Polish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

start m inan

  1. (sports) start (the 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[edit]

declension of start
singular plural
nominative start starty
genitive startu startów
dative startowi startom
accusative start starty
instrumental startem startami
locative starcie startach
vocative starcie starty

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • start in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

start c

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

Declension[edit]

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

Related terms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Turkish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English start.

Pronunciation[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

start (definite accusative startı, plural startlar)

  1. start

Usage notes[edit]

As Turks are generally not easily spelling consonants at the beginning of a syllable, this word may often be spelled as [sɯtaɾt].

Declension[edit]

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
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

Antonyms[edit]

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