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Your word for today is: start, n./2
start, n.2
Pronunciation: Brit. /stɑːt/, U.S. /stɑrt/
Forms:? ME–15 stert(e, ME stertte, stirt, 15 styrt, ME–15 styrte, starte, 15 startte, 15– start.
Etymology: < start v.
1.
a. A short space of time, a moment. Often used adverbially. Obs.
?c1225 [see start-while n. at Compounds].
a1300 Cursor Mundi 14298Iesus beheild þan hir a stert, And had gret reuthnes in his hert.
c1375 Sc. Troy-bk. (Horstm.) i. 64All wrath ande angry ine hys hert Stude studeande a litill stert.
14.. Erthe upon Erthe (1911) 24Man, amende þe betyme, þi lyfe ys but a starte.
c1440 Promp. Parv. 476/1Styrt, or lytyl whyle, momentum.
c1450 R. Holland Bk. Howlat 500Was nane so stur in the steid micht stand him a start.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 894In þat place duelt cuthbert With religiouse men a stert.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 854/1A preaty start a go, une petite espace de temps.
a1552 J. Leland Itinerary (1710) I. 93An old Manor Place, wher in tymes paste sum of the Moulbrays lay for a starte.
1572 Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 895This wickit warld is bot ane start.
1620 E. Blount in T. Shelton tr. Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote Ep. Ded.,His study being to sweeten those short starts of your retirement from publique affaires.
†b. A (short or long) distance. Obs.
2. a1552 J. Leland Itinerary (1711) III. 35First I markid a litle start above the Haven Mouth on the West side of it a Creeke caullid Stoken Teigne Hed.
a1556 N. Udall Ralph Roister Doister (?1566) iv. v. sig. G.jv,In deede he dwelleth hence a good stert I confesse.
1580 J. Lyly Euphues (new ed.) To Rdrs. sig. ¶iij,Secondly being a great start from Athens to England, he thought to stay for the aduantage of a Leape yeare.
a. A sudden and transient effort of movement; in early use, †a leap, a rush. †at a start: with a bound, in an instant.
c1405 (1385) Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 847This Duc his courser with the spores smoot And at a stert he was bitwix hem two.
c1412 T. Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1109And at a stirt, withouten tarying, Vn-to his cofre he dressith hym in hye.
c1440 Generydes 6699Vnto hir chaunber sone he made a stert, And curtesly of hir his leve he toke.
c1440 Promp. Parv. 476/1Styrte, or skyppe, saltus.
c1440 Promp. Parv. 476/1Styrte, of sodeyne mevynge, assultus.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 276/2Styrt a lepe, course.
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 10A Wood-Louse‥has a swift motion, and runs by starts or stages.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. i. 17The animals move with the narrow apex forwards, by the aid of their vibratory ciliæ, and generally by rapid starts.
b. Sc. start and owerloup: the leaping of cattle over a fence into an adjoining pasture.
1707 J. Lauder Decisions (1761) II. 408If they [cattle], in their transient passage, do any skaith by start and o'erloup.
1827 Scott Two Drovers in Chron. Canongate 1st Ser. I. xiv. 310The cattle‥subsisted themselves‥sometimes by the tempting opportunity of a start and owerloup, or invasion of the neighbouring pasture.
†c. A sudden journey; a sudden flight, invasion, etc. to take the start: to decamp, run away. Obs.
'The Start', applied by historians to the flight from Perth of Charles II in 1650, is derived from quot. 1651, where however the use of the word is not in any way special.
1600 Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. ii. 5The fiend‥tempts me, saying to me, Iobbe,‥vse your legges, take the start, runne away.
a1616 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 198Wer't not a shame, that‥The fearfull French‥Should make a start ore-seas, and vanquish you?
1651 R. Baillie Let. 2 Jan. (1842) III. 117The King‥did willinglie returne, exceedinglie confounded and dejected for that ill-advysed start.
1704 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion III. xiii. 307It was indeed a very empty and unprepared design,‥and might well have ruin'd the King. It was afterwards called the Start.
1804 M. Laing Hist. Scotl. III. 437This incident was termed the Start.
1894 S. R. Gardiner Hist. Commonw. I. 376Such was Charles's escapade, to which Scottish writers give the name of 'The Start'.
d. A sudden acceleration of progress or growth.
3. 1803 T. R. Malthus Ess. Princ. Population ii. i. 184The population of Norway‥has made a start within the last ten or fifteen years.
1877 G. F. Chambers Handbk. Descr. Astron. (ed. 3) i. i. 37Of late years the study of the sun has taken a remarkable start.
a. A sudden involuntary movement of the body, occasioned by surprise, terror, joy or grief, or the recollection of something forgotten. Phrase, to give a start.
c1374 Chaucer Troylus & Criseyde v. 254And ther-with-al his body sholde sterte, and wiþ þe stert al sodeynlych a-wake.
a1616 Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iii. iv. 62O, these flawes and starts‥would well become A womans story.
1700 Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite i, in Fables 21The Fright awaken'd Arcite with a Start.
1750 Johnson Rambler No. 109. ⁋2,I imagine the start of attention awakened.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. x. vi. 77He assumed the start of a man who all at once hits upon a circumstance which had hitherto escaped his recollection.
1825 Scott Betrothed Introd. in Tales Crusaders I. p. xxvii,In the general start and exclamation which followed this annunciation, Mr Oldbuck dropped his snuff-box.
1863 'G. Eliot' Romola II. iv. 33He gave a start of astonishment, and stood still.
1897 A. E. Houghton Gilbert Murray xix. 291His eyes wandered to the ring. What a start he gave!
1902 R. Bagot Donna Diana xvi. 196One or two old men were dozing upon their chairs, waking up every now and then with a start.
with adv.
1840 R. Browning Sordello iii. 638Thus do I interpret the significance Of the bard's start aside and look askance.
b. to give (a person) a start: to startle.
4. 1816 Scott Old Mortality x, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 240What for did ye come creeping to your ain house as if ye had been an unco body, to gi'e poor auld Ailie sic a start?
a. A starting into activity; a sudden and transient effort or display of energy.
1608 Shakespeare King Lear i. i. 299Such vnconstant starts are we like to haue from him, as this of Kents banishment.
1847 Tennyson Princess i. 53A gentleman of broken means‥but given to starts and bursts Of revel.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 205He continued to the very last to show, by occasional starts and struggles, his impatience of the French yoke.
b. by starts, †at starts, later chiefly †by starts and fits, now by fits and starts (see fit n.24c): intermittently, not continuously or with sustained effort.
The earliest examples may be referred to sense 1.
1421–2 T. Hoccleve Dialog 505By stirtes when þat a fressh lust me takith, Wole I me bisye now and now a lyte.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 858/1At startes, par foys.
c1530 A. Barclay Egloges ii. sig. Hivv,To hyr mayst thou come but only nowe and than By stelth & stertys, as pryuey as thou can.
1557 P. Hoby in Burgon's Life Gresham (1839) I. 225But you come so by sterts, as to-night you are here, and tomorrowe you are gone.
1587 J. Hooker Chron. Ireland 83/1 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II,They [sc. the Irish]‥performed by starts (as their manner is) the dutie of good subiects.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 51This little Treatise‥being gathered and compiled by starts, as my leysure would serve.
1621 T. W. tr. S. Goulart Wise Vieillard A 2 b,I took vp my Pen againe, and at starts and tymes finished it.
1630 S. Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 53So we at starts do assent to the sweet and precious promises.
1640 Bp. J. Wilkins Disc. New Planet (1707) viii. 223The Motion of the Earth is always equal and like it self; not by starts and fits.
1681 Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 17Was every thing by starts, and nothing long.
1728 Earl of Ailesbury Mem. (1890) 261But I knew he had by starts great notions of generosity.
1747 W. Collins Odes 47'Twas sad by Fits, by Starts 'twas wild.
1799 H. Lee Canterbury Tales (ed. 2) I. 239The letters he daily received‥induced him, by starts, to betray [etc.].
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria II. xxii. 131Let it likewise be shown how far the influence has acted; whether diffusively, or only by starts.
1841 Dickens Barnaby Rudge lxvi. 320He‥had watched with little intermission for some weeks past, sleeping only in the day by starts and snatches.
†c. on the start: ? suddenly, without warning.
a1616 Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iii. ii. 50,I haue felt so many quirkes of ioy and greefe, That the first face of neither on the start can woman me vntoo't.
a1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd iii. iv. 51 in Wks. (1640) III,My men shall hunt you too upon the start, And course you soundly.
d. A sudden fit of passion, grief, joy, madness, etc.; an outburst, sally, or flight of wit, humour, or fancy. Now rare or Obs.
1598 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. ii. 125Thou that art like enough through‥the start of spleene, To fight against me.
a1653 R. Brome Queen & Concubine i. iii. 7 in Five New Playes (1659),This is one of his un-to-be-examin'd hastie Humours, one of his starts.
1683 Dryden & N. Lee Duke of Guise ii. i. 15I've heard you say, You'd Arm against the League, why do you not? The Thoughts of such as you, are Starts Divine.
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables cclxiii. 230There are several Starts of Fancy, that Off-hand look well enough; but [etc.].
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 9 July 1/2We were well enough pleased with this Start of Thought.
1772 F. Burney Jrnl. 3 Jan. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1988) I. 182In defiance of the gloom his misfortunes have cast over him, some starts of his former, his native vivacity break out.
1790 W. Cowper In Mem. J. Thornton 41Such was thy Charity; no sudden start, After long sleep of passion in the heart, But steadfast principle.
1802 H. Martin Helen of Glenross II. 134Did you then know your sister liable to occasional starts of the infirmity that afterwards became rooted and declared incurable?
1816 L. Hunt Story Rimini iv. 131A passionate start Of tears and kindness.
1823 J. Simpson Ricardo the Outlaw II. 29It was not a start of momentary passion, but an oath calmly, and deliberately taken.
e. A sudden broken utterance or burst of sound.
5. a1616 Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. ii. 21Me thought her eyes had lost her tongue, For she did speake in starts distractedly.
1816 L. Hunt Story Rimini i. 103Another start of trumpets, with reply.
1878 R. W. Gilder Poet & Master 57Where he might listen to the starts and thrills Of birds that sang and rustled in the trees.
a. A beginning to move; a setting out on a journey or a race; the beginning of a career, of a course of action, a series of events, etc.
false start: in Racing, a wrong start, necessitating return to the starting-point; hence gen. an unsuccessful attempt to begin something (e.g. a speech, a song, a business).
1566 Gresham in Burgon Life (1839) II. 109Beinge within xiiii mile of my howse of Rinxall, (whereas I make all my provision for my timber for the Burse,) I was so bolde [as] to make a starte to vewe the same.
c1595 C'tess of Pembroke Psalme lxxxix. 74 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 133While circling time, still ending and begining, Shall runne the race where stopp nor start appeares.
1693 H. Prideaux Lett. (1875) 165We have a young nobleman of our countey that now makes his first start in London.
1811 Sporting Mag. 38 109A great number of genteel folks attended the start.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple II. ii. 29The new moon's quartered in with foul weather; if it holds, prepare for a start.
1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 63There is nothing in life, like making a good start.
1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh xxxi. 260Pilkington‥was partly coaxed, partly coerced into attempting the only song he knew,‥in which performance, after making four false starts,‥he contrived‥to get as far as the words [etc.].
1856 'Stonehenge' Man. Brit. Rural Sports 370If any jockey is evidently and wilfully the cause of a false start, the starter reports the same to the stewards, who have power to fine him.
1876 J. B. Mozley Univ. Serm. (1877) iv. 87In the eyes of others too, his goodness would appear to have taken a fresh start.
a1878 B. Taylor Stud. German Lit. (1879) 167We found ourselves at the start in a rough land of mountains.
1911 G. P. Gooch Hist. our Times x. 234Women have voted in County Council elections from the start.
b. Phr. from start to finish. Also start-to-stop, used (usu. attrib.) with reference to train journeys or their schedules.
1868 Field 4 July 14/3A slashing race was rowed from start to finish between the two former [boats].
1894 Illustr. London News Christmas No. 22/3The whole thing was unusual, from start to finish.
1896 Spectator 25 Apr. 580The plot interest‥is sustained from start to finish.
1899 Railway Mag. IV. 375/1They comprise one of the best start-to-stop runs I have ever had on a British line.
1931 Times Educ. Suppl. 19 Sept. (Home & Classroom Section) p. ii/2 (caption)The Great Western Railway Company regained this week the record for the fastest start-to-stop journey in the world.
1936 Discovery Nov. 356/1Two or three runs booked, start-to-stop, at over 80 miles an hour.
1968 O. S. Nock Railway Enthusiast's Encycl. 279The run of the 'Silver Jubilee' from King's Cross to Darlington is also tabulated; and finally that of the 'Coronation', introduced in 1937, with the fastest start-to-stop schedule ever tabled with steam in Great Britain.
†c. to strain or draw on the start: of hounds, to strain on the leash. Obs.
[a1616 Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. i. 32,I see you stand like Greyhounds in the slips, Straying vpon the Start.]
1622 M. Drayton Second Pt. Poly-olbion ii. xxiii. 72And whilst the eager dogs vpon the Start doe draw, Shee riseth from her seat.
d. An act of setting in motion; an impulse to movement; a signal for starting in a race, etc.
1604 Shakespeare Hamlet iv. vii. 166How much I had to doe to calme his rage, Now feare I this will giue it start againe.
c1612 in J. P. Hore Hist. Newmarket (1885) I. 331Lastlie, for giving of the starte, either Mr. Sheriffes for the time being, or whom Mr. Maior will appointe.
1891 N. Gould Double Event xvii. 123The six starters were now at the post, and at the second attempt Mr. Watson let the flag go to one of his best starts.
1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 273If plates are slightly larger than ordinary, they may be slow in moving, and it might be necessary to tap the camera to effect the start.
1897 Encycl. Sport I. 65/1[In the Tug-of-War] The start shall be by word of mouth.
1904 E. H. Coleridge Life & Corr. Ld. Coleridge II. 107If‥Keble's sermon on 'National Apostacy'‥was the start or set-off of the Catholic Revival.
e. An opportunity or an assistance given for starting or entering on a career or course of action. Often a start in life.
1849 H. Martineau Introd. Hist. Peace iv. x. (1877) III. 75All were to have a fresh start—to be allowed the free use of their best powers.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) IV. xviii. 171The Norman Conquest may very well have given the native element a fresh start.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lviii. 405Nobody can get an early and easy start on the strength of his name and connections.
1902 E. Banks Autobiogr. Newspaper Girl xxviii. 310Then, as I was not to be turned back, he took me on and gave me my start—a better start‥than falls to the lot of many girls who begin the life journalistic.
1907 Verney Mem. I. 95He was given a fresh start by his long-suffering father.
1908 Times 20 July 19/4It does not affect the special funds‥for helping towards the education or start in life of clergy children.
f. The starting-point (of a journey).
1881 in J. Hatton's New Ceylon vi. 166From the morning's start, the rapids, we only covered six miles.
g. Sport. By synedoche, a contest, race, or game. Chiefly N. Amer.
1944 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Feb. 12/3Davis is a welter~weight.‥ Davis isn't that good. At least he never has been in most of his previous starts.
1949 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 10 Oct. 13/2The Rebels, in gaining their third win in four league starts‥won it as convincingly as the score would indicate.
1966 Telegraph (Brisbane) 22 Jan. 5/2He [sc. a horse] started racing in November, and in five starts has tallied a win, second, and a third.
1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 32/3Winless in 14 previous starts this season, Miss Ella Cinders had little trouble with Sandy Hawley up last Saturday as she galloped to a 12-length win.
1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. d1/7The hapless, helpless Nats‥couldn't hold off the East Division champions, who have captured nine consecutive starts.
h. The act of beginning to build a house. Also housing start.
1946 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Aug. 8/2The Wyatt office claims about 406,000 'starts' of dwelling units in the first five months of the year.
1955 Times 30 May 11/1New housing 'starts' rose in April but by less than they usually do over March.
1966 New Statesman 25 Nov. 769/2What is worrying is that the starts are falling in the private sector and, as a house takes an average of about a year to build, the effects will be projected into next year's figures.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 22 May 8/3Around 28 to 29 per cent of all single-family housing starts.
i. Phr. for a start: to begin with. colloq. Cf. starter n.3.
6. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris iii. 56,I‥found Montherlant's Les Célibataires.‥ 'That's a good one for a start.'
1971 Radio Times 21 Aug. 47/3What makes Raven unusual? For a start he's 46, and‥he was a ballet dancer, a lieutenant of infantry, a classical actor and a television producer.
1978 L. Thomas Ormerod's Landing iii. 48Everybody else knows.‥ The submarine crew know for a start.
a. Advantage gained by starting first in a race or on a journey; in wider sense, position in advance of competitors whether obtained at the beginning or in the course of a race, etc. Hence gen. priority or position in advance of others in any competitive undertaking. Chiefly in to get, have, †take the start (of a competitor); also with words indicating the amount in time or distance of the advantage, as in ten minutes start, ten yards start.
1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. in Euphues (new ed.) f. 101v,Those, who hauing gotten the startte in a race, thinke none to be neere their heeles.
1602 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor v. v. 159You haue the start of mee.
1608 D. Tuvil Ess. Polit. & Morall f. 45v,As they haue the start of all men in the one: so loue they not to bee out-stript by any in the other.
1609 P. Holland tr. A. Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xv. v. 39But for all the running hast we made, a certaine wandering and flying fame had gotten the start of us.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. viii. §2. 131Hauing withall the start of 130. yeares, to raise themselues without controlement.
a1616 Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 132It doth amaze me, A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the Maiesticke world.
1665 J. Bunyan Holy Citie (1669) 98The Twelve will have the start of him; for they both had the Spirit as he, and more then he.
1682 T. Ken Serm. in Wks. (1838) 127We were all travelling the same way, as pilgrims towards our heavenly country, she has only got the start of us, is gone before, and is happy first.
1720 D. Defoe Capt. Singleton 115Having‥about 300 Yards the Start of the Lion.
1726 Swift Gulliver I. ii. i. 6Our Men had the start of him half a League.
1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 278Twitch~grass and other Weeds‥got the start of the St. Foyn and kill'd it.
1746 P. Francis tr. Horace Satires ii. vi. 50Be nimble to perform your part, Lest any rival get the start.
1766 Ld. Kames Remarkable Decisions Court of Session 1730–52 11Several of these creditors, taking the start, laid arrestments in the hands of the accepters of these bills.
1808 R. Southey Select. Lett. (1856) II. 309,I have got start enough with Ballantyne to lay the Debates aside, and take a spell at Abella's documents.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. x. vi. 75,I remained motionless for some seconds, which gave him time to get the start of me.
1826 C. Lamb Pop. Fallacies xiv,It is flattering to get the start of a lazy world.
1841 Thackeray Great Hoggarty Diamond iv,I did not go to the office till half an hour after opening time.‥ I was not sorry to let Hoskins have the start of me, and tell the chaps what had taken place.
1861 K. H. Digby Chapel St. John (1863) 169She never suffered her imagination to get the start of her judgment.
1885 'Mrs. Alexander' At Bay v. 81The hopelessness of the search in the face of nearly twenty-four hours' start.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 258Ngouta and the Ajumba used to sit down‥and I also, for a few minutes,‥and then I would go on alone, thus getting a good start.
b. In early use sometimes loosely: Superiority.
1611 B. Jonson Catiline iii. i. 341Here is a Lady, that hath got the start, In piety, of vs all.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ v. xxvii. 32,I have bin shewn for Irish and Bascuence Imperfect rules couchd in an Accidence: But I find none of these can take the start Of Davies.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ vi. xxxv. 54Dr. Jorden hath got the start of any that ever writ of this subject.
†7. A starting aside; a deviation or digression.
1534 R. Whittinton tr. Cicero Thre Bks. Tullyes Offyces i. sig. B.2,For all the laude of vertue standeth in effectuall exercyse, fro the whiche not withstandynge a sterte or pause maye be made.
1576 A. Fleming tr. J. Caius Eng. Dogges 37A starte to outlandishe Dogges in this conclusion, not impertinent to the Authors purpose.
8. Mining. = leap n.16.
1778 W. Pryce Mineral. Cornubiensis 106The most considerable disorder which Lodes are liable to‥is what is termed a Start, a Leap.
1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. 354The horizontal start or joint which cuts off the vein as they go down in it, does not cut if off in the true horizontal line, but leans or declines a little some way.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 40/2Sometimes a vein will suddenly disappear without giving any warning by becoming narrower or of worse quality; which by the miners is called a start or leap.
†9. U.S. The name of some game. Obs.
1788 J. Q. Adams Diary (1903) 91Afterwards play'd a number of very amusing sports, such as start.
10. Whaling. (See quots.)
11. slang.Cf. sense 1b; but direct connection seems very unlikely.
1836 Uncle Philip's Convers. Whale Fishery 48When the fish rises within two hundred yards of [the boat, it]‥is then said to 'come up within a start'.
1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 146The boats meanwhile separate‥in order that one at least may be within 'a start'—that is, about two hundred yards from the point of its rising.
a. A prison, esp. Newgate.
1756 J. Cox Narr. Thief-takers 66The Prisoner replied, that he was going to the Start for nimming a Cull in his Eye.
1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3),Start, or the Old Start, Newgate.
1823 'J. Bee' Slang (at cited word),The Start. Newgate is thus termed, par excellence. But every felon-prison would be equally a start.
b. the Start: a vagrants' name for London.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 312/2All the 'regular bang-up fakes' are manufactured in the 'Start' (metropolis).
1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2),'The start', London,—the great starting point for beggars and tramps.
1862 Cornhill Mag. Nov. 648,I will send a few thickuns to bring you and your tamtart up to Start.
c. A proceeding or incident that causes surprise; = go n.13.
1836 Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xxii. 225What with your mother-in-law a worrying me to go, and what with my looking for'ard to seein' some queer starts if I did, I put my name down for a ticket.
1853 Dickens Bleak House xi. 105Being asked what he thinks of the proceedings, [Little Swills] characterises them (his strength lying in a slangular direction) as 'a rummy start'.
1857 A. S. Mayhew Paved with Gold iii. xiv,Here's a start! a reg'lar twicer!
1880 J. Payn Confidential Agent I. 138That's the rummest start I ever knew.
1905 H. A. Vachell Hill vi. 136Of all the queer starts I——.
Compounds
Comb.: start button n. a switch that is pressed in order to set a machine or process in action.
1964 C. Dent Quantity Surveying by Computer iii. 24When the *start button is pressed, the control unit reads the contents of the first address in its memory store and transfers it to a 'control register' in the control unit, where it is interpreted as an instruction.
1968 Brit. Med. Bull. 24 190/1When the start-button of the machine is pressed, it simply causes the programmed procedure to operate on the data, giving rise to an action which will depend entirely on the data and the procedure.
1977 D. MacKenzie Raven & Kamikaze iii. 40He‥plugged the cable into a wall-socket and thumbed the start button.
†start-hole n. Obs. the hole in which an animal takes shelter; = starting-hole n.
a1641 T. Heywood Captives (1953) i. iii. 24Ffrance shall not conteine this but I will ffinde theire *start-holes.
start-line n. = starting line n. at starting n.Compounds 2; chiefly transf. and fig., esp. in Mil. use (see quot. 1961).
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 224,I would‥think at such and such a time‥I shall cross the *start-line and open my attack for better or worse.‥ With Julia there were no phases, no start~line, no tactics at all.
1946 G. Millar Horned Pigeon ii. 32Rommel's Afrika Korps were on the start line of their long advance.
1961 W. Vaughan-Thomas Anzio v. 69The concept of a start line—an essential part of infantry tactics—is simply a matter of applied common sense.‥ Just as in a race in athletics all competitors must line up at a starting-point‥so, in the infinitely more exacting race of an infantry attack, the unit—be it battalion, brigade or division—needs some feature on the ground along which the troops can be lined for the take off.
1982 J. Wainwright Anat. of Riot 15In Army parlance he was going to be the field commander when the war left the start-line.
start-point n. rare = starting-point n. at starting n.Compounds 2.
1876 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera lxii. 59,I find myself‥without any *start-point for attempt to understand them.
†start-while n. Obs. = sense 1.
?c1225 (1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C. 6) (1972) 249Þe þeof orode‥inan *start-hwile of eode [read hefde] ed him milce.
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