start

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To begin doing something.

   We started the meeting at nine o'clock.

2. 2
   verb

   To make a machine or engine begin working.

   The car won't start in cold weather.

3. 3
   noun

   The beginning of something.

   The race got off to a good start.

4. 4
   noun

   A sudden quick movement caused by surprise or fear.

   They woke up with a start when the alarm rang.

Common collocations

• start a fire Verb + noun
• start the day Verb + noun
• start work Verb + noun
• early start Adjective + noun
• good start Adjective + noun
• start a business Verb + noun
• start a club Verb + noun
• start a company Verb + noun
• start a conversation Verb + noun
• start a family Verb + noun
• start a fight Verb + noun
• start a machine Verb + noun

From Middle English stert, start (“tail, handle, projection”), from Old English steort (“tail”), 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”), Danish stjert (“tail of a bird”), Faroese stertur (“tail”), Icelandic stertur (“short horse tail”), Norn skjårt (“tail”), sterti (“tail of a large fish”), stjårt (“tail of a large fish”), Norwegian stjert (“tail of a bird”), Swedish stjärt (“tail, arse”).

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