start

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• A young plant germinated in a pot to be transplanted later.
• An initial advantage over somebody else; a head start.
• A happening or proceeding.
• A tail, or anything projecting like a tail.
• 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.

Verb

• To begin, commence, initiate.
• To begin an activity.
• To have its origin (at), begin.
• To startle or be startled; to move or be moved suddenly.
• To break away, to come loose.
• To put into play.
• To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.
• To start one's periods (menstruation).

Related

Opposite words

• stop
• end

Origin

• From Middle English stert, from the verb sterten. See below.
• From Middle English sterten, from Old English styrtan, from Proto-West Germanic *sturtijan, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter-. Cognate with Old Frisian stirta, Middle Dutch sterten (Dutch storten), Old High German sturzen (German stürzen), Old High German sterzan. More at stare.
• 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").