start

adv

Etymology: Variant of stark.

1. Completely, utterly.

   “Col.—The age has no sense—the people are start mad—as mad as a March mare. We should have fine times, indeed if our laws did'nt compel the poor people to protect the property of the rich.”

name

1. The city of London, England.

   “It is true that certain kinds of documents, especially sham hawkers’ licenses, may be had in the provinces, at prices suited to the importance of their contents, or to the probable gains of their circulation; but all the ‘regular bang-up fakes’ are manufactured in the ‘Start’ (metropolis), and sent into the country to order, carefully packed up, and free from observation.”

noun

Etymology: The verb start, with initial uppercase letter.

1. A typical button for video games, originally used to start a game, now also often to pause or choose an option.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English sterten (“to leap up suddenly, rush out”), from Old English styrtan (“to leap up, start”), from Proto-West Germanic *sturtijan (“to startle, move, set in motion”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“to be stiff”). Cognate with Old Frisian stirta (“to fall down, tumble”), Middle Dutch sterten (“to rush, fall, collapse”) (Dutch storten), Old High German sturzen (“to hurl, plunge, turn upside down”) (German stürzen), Old High German sterzan (“to be stiff, protrude”). More at stare.

1. To begin, commence, initiate.

   “to start a stream of water; to start a rumour; to start a business”

   “I was some years ago engaged in conversation with a fashionable French Abbe, upon a subject which the people of that kingdom love to start in discourse.”

2. To begin, commence, initiate.

   “The President fired the gun to start the footrace.”

   “The rain started at 9:00.”

3. To begin, commence, initiate.

   “to start the engine”

4. To begin, commence, initiate.
5. To begin, commence, initiate.

   “Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.”

6. To have its origin (at), begin.

   “The speed limit is 50 km/h, starting at the edge of town.”

   “The blue line starts one foot away from the wall.”

7. To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle.

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

   “I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze thy young blood, Make thy tvvo eyes like Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, Thy knotty and combined locks to part, And each particular haire to ſtand an end, Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: […]”

8. To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle.

   “I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; [...]”

9. To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle.

   “The hounds started a fox.”

   “Upon malicious bravery dost thou come To start my quiet?”

10. To move suddenly, from a previous state of rest; to startle.

    “the storm started the bolts in the vessel”

    “One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternon.”

11. To put into play.

    “The charge against Zagallo then is not so much that he started Ronaldo, but that when it should surely have been clear that the player was in no fit state to take part he kept him on.”

    ““Look at Portu,” Michel insisted, “he scores goals and I never start him. He says: ‘You’re sinking me, but OK, I’ll just go out and score again.’””

12. To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.

    “to start a water cask”

13. To begin one's menstrual cycle.

    “Have you started yet?”