start
pronunciation
How to pronounce start in British English:
UK [stɑːt]
How to pronounce start in American English:
US [stɑːrt]
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- Noun:
- the beginning of anything
- the time at which something is supposed to begin
- a turn to be a starter (in a game at the beginning)
- a sudden involuntary movement
- the act of starting something
- a line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game
- a signal to begin (as in a race)
- advantage gained by an early start as in a race
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- Verb:
- take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
- set in motion, cause to start
- leave
- have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense
- bring into being
- get off the ground
- move or jump suddenly, as if in surprise or alarm
- get going or set in motion
- begin or set in motion
- begin work or acting in a certain capacity, office or job
- play in the starting line-up
- have a beginning characterized in some specified way
- begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object
Word Origin
- start
- start: [OE] Start originally meant ‘jump, leap, caper’ (‘Him lust not [he did not like] to play nor start, nor to dance, nor to sing’, Chaucer, Romance of the Rose 1366). This gradually evolved via ‘make a sudden movement’ to ‘begin a journey’, but it did not emerge as a fully-fledged synonym for ‘begin’ until the end of the 18th century. Startle [OE], which came from the same Germanic base *start-, has kept more closely to the notion of ‘sudden movement’.=> startle
- start (v.)
- Old English *steortian, *stiertan, Kentish variants of styrtan "to leap up" (related to starian "to stare"), from Proto-Germanic *stert- (cognates: Old Frisian stirta "to fall, tumble," Middle Dutch sterten, Dutch storten "to rush, fall," Old High German sturzen, German stürzen "to hurl, throw, plunge"), of uncertain origin. According to Watkins, the notion is "move briskly, move swiftly," and it is from PIE root *ster- (1) "stiff." From "move or spring suddenly," sense evolved by late 14c. to "awaken suddenly, flinch or recoil in alarm," and by 1660s to "cause to begin acting or operating." Meaning "begin to move, leave, depart" (without implication of suddenness) is from 1821. The connection probably is from sporting senses ("to force an animal from its lair," late 14c.). Transitive sense of "set in motion or action" is from 1670s; specifically as "to set (machinery) in action" from 1841. Related: Started; starting. To start something "cause trouble" is 1915, American English colloquial. To start over "begin again" is from 1912. Starting-line in running is from 1855; starting-block in running first recorded 1937.
- start (n.)
- late 14c., "an involuntary movement of the body, a sudden jump," from start (v.). Meaning "act of beginning to move or act" is from 1560s. Meaning "act of beginning to build a house" is from 1946. That of "opportunity at the beginning of a career or course of action" is from 1849. Paired with finish (n.) at least from 1839. False start first attested 1850.
Example
- 1. Start to choose a hobby .
- 2. Then I start to panic .
- 3. Protesters plan to start early .
- 4. We might never start living .
- 5. Registration is often just the start .