START, v.t.

1. A sudden motion of the body; a sudden twitch; a spastic affection; as, a start in sleep.
2. A sudden motion from alarm. The fright awaken'd Arcite with a start. – Dryden.
3. A sudden rousing to action; a spring; excitement. Now fear I this will give it start again. – Shak.
4. Sally; sudden motion or effusion; a bursting forth; as, starts of fancy. To check the starts and sallies of the soul. – Addison.
5. Sudden fit; sudden motion followed by intermission. For she did speak in starts distractedly. – Shak. Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry. – L'Estrange.
6. A quick spring; a darting; a shoot; a push; as, to give a start. Both cause the string to give a quicker start. – Bacon.
7. First motion from a place; act of setting out. The start of first performance is all. – Bacon. You stand like greyhounds in the slips, / Straining upon the start. – Shak. To get the start, to begin before another; to gain the advantage in a similar undertaking. Get the start of the majestic world. – Shak. She might have forsaken him, if he had not got the start of her. – Dryden.

A projection; a push; a horn; a tail. In the latter sense it occurs in the name of the bird red-start. Hence the Start, in Devonshire.

1. To move suddenly, as if by a twitch; as, to start in sleep or by a sudden spasm.
2. To move suddenly, as by an involuntary shrinking from sudden fear or alarm. I start as from some dreadful dream. – Dryden.
3. To move with sudden quickness, as with a spring or leap. A spirit fit to start into an empire, / And look the world to law. – Dryden.
4. To shrink; to wince. But if he start, / It is the flesh of a corrupted heart. – Shak.
5. To move suddenly aside; to deviate; generally with from, out of, or aside. Th' old drudging sun from his long beaten way / Shall at thy voice start and misguide the day. – Cowley. Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside. – Watts.
6. To set out; to commence a race, as from a barrier or goal. The horses started at the word, go. At once they start, advancing in a line. – Dryden.
7. To set out; to commence a journey or enterprise. The public coaches start at six o'clock. When two start into the world together. – Collier. To start up, to rise suddenly, as from a seat or couch; or to come suddenly into notice or importance.

1. To alarm; to disturb suddenly; to startle; to rouse. Upon malicious bravery dost thou come, / To start my quiet? – Shak.
2. To rouse suddenly from concealment; to cause to flee or fly; as, to start a hare or a woodcock; to start game. – Pope.
3. To bring into motion; to produce suddenly to view or notice. Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cesar. – Shak. The present occasion has started the dispute among us. – Lesley. So we say, to start a question, to start an objection; that is, to suggest or propose anew.
4. To invent or discover; to bring within pursuit. Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start. – Temple.
5. To move suddenly from its place; to dislocate; as, to start a bone. One started the end of the clavicle from the sternum. – Wiseman.
6. To empty, as liquor from a cask; to pour out; as, to start wine into another cask. – Mar. Dict.

1. To leap; to jump.
   
   
   [Obs.]
2. To cause to move suddenly; to disturb suddenly; to startle; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee or fly; as, the hounds started a fox.
   
   

   Upon malicious bravery dost thou come
   To start my quiet? Shak.

   Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar. Shak.

3. The act of starting; a sudden spring, leap, or motion, caused by surprise, fear, pain, or the like; any sudden motion, or beginning of motion.
   
   

   The fright awakened Arcite with a start. Dryden.

4. A tail, or anything projecting like a tail.
5. To move suddenly, as with a spring or leap, from surprise, pain, or other sudden feeling or emotion, or by a voluntary act.
   
   

   And maketh him out of his sleep to start. Chaucer.

   I start as from some dreadful dream. Dryden.

   Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside. I. Watts.

   But if he start,
   It is the flesh of a corrupted heart. Shak.

6. To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent.
   
   

   Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start. Sir W. Temple.

7. A convulsive motion, twitch, or spasm; a spasmodic effort.
   
   

   For she did speak in starts distractedly. Shak.

   Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry. L'Estrange.

8. The handle, or tail, of a plow; also, any long handle.
   
   
   [Prov. Eng.]
9. To set out; to commence a course, as a race or journey; to begin; as, to start business.
   
   

   At once they start, advancing in a line. Dryden.

   At intervals some bird from out the brakes
   Starts into voice a moment, then is still. Byron.

10. To cause to move or act; to set going, running, or flowing; as, to start a railway train; to start a mill; to start a stream of water; to start a rumor; to start a business.
    
    

    I was engaged in conversation upon a subject which the people love to start in discourse. Addison.

11. A sudden, unexpected movement; a sudden and capricious impulse; a sally; as, starts of fancy.
    
    

    To check the starts and sallies of the soul. Addison.

12. The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water-wheel bucket.
13. To become somewhat displaced or loosened; as, a rivet or a seam may start under strain or pressure.
    
    

    To start after, to set out after; to follow; to pursue. -- To start against, to act as a rival candidate against. -- To start for, to be a candidate for, as an office. -- To start up, to rise suddenly, as from a seat or couch; to come suddenly into notice or importance.

14. To move suddenly from its place or position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate; as, to start a bone; the storm started the bolts in the vessel.
    
    

    One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternum. Wiseman.

15. The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.
16. The beginning, as of a journey or a course of action; first motion from a place; act of setting out; the outset; -- opposed to finish.
    
    

    The start of first performance is all. Bacon.

    I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
    Straining upon the start. Shak.

    At a start, at once; in an instant. [Obs.]

    At a start he was betwixt them two. Chaucer.

    To get, or have, the start, to before another; to gain or have the advantage in a similar undertaking; -- usually with of. "Get the start of the majestic world." Shak. "She might have forsaken him if he had not got the start of her." Dryden.

17. To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from; as, to start a water cask.