start
♦♦♦ start /st'ɑːrt/ (starts starting started)
1 [VERB] V to-inf, V n/-ing, V n/-ing
If you start to do something, you do something that you were not doing before and you continue doing it.
John then unlocked the front door and I started to follow him up the stairs...
It was 1956 when Susanna started the work on the garden...
She started cleaning the kitchen.
= begin
[N-COUNT]
Start is also a noun.
After several starts, she read the report properly.
2 [VERB] V prep, V prep, V n
When something starts, or if someone starts it, it takes place from a particular time.
The fire is thought to have started in an upstairs room...
The Great War started in August of that year...
All of the passengers started the day with a swim.
= begin
[N-SING] the N
Start is also a noun.
...1918, four years after the start of the Great War...
She demanded to know why she had not been told from the start.
= beginning
3 [VERB] V by -ing, V with n
If you start by doing something, or if you start with something, you do that thing first in a series of actions.
I started by asking how many day-care centers were located in the United States...
He started with a good holiday in Key West, Florida.
= begin
4 [VERB] V as n
You use start to say what someone's first job was. For example, if their first job was that of a factory worker, you can say that they started as a factory worker.
Betty started as a shipping clerk at the clothes factory...
[PHRASAL VERB] V P as n
Start off means the same as start.
Mr. Dambar had started off as an assistant to Mrs. Spear's husband.
5 [VERB] V n
When someone starts something such as a new business, they create it or cause it to begin.
Now is probably as good a time as any to start a business.
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n (not pron), V n P
Start up means the same as start.
The cost of starting up a day care center for children ranges from $150,000 to $300,000...
He said what a good idea it would be to start a community magazine up.
see also start-up
= set up
6 [VERB] V n, V
If you start an engine, car, or machine, or if it starts, it begins to work.
He started the car, which hummed smoothly...
We were just passing one of the parking bays when a car's engine started.
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n (not pron), V n P, V P
Start up means the same as start.
He waited until they went inside the building before starting up the car and driving off...
Put the key in the ignition and turn it to start the car up...
The engine of the seaplane started up.
7 [VERB] V
If you start, your body suddenly moves slightly as a result of surprise or fear.
She put the bottle on the table, banging it down hard. He started at the sound...
[N-COUNT] usu sing
Start is also a noun.
Sylvia woke with a start...
He gave a start of surprise and astonishment.
8
see also head start, false start
9 [PHRASE] PHR with cl/group
You use for a start or to start with to introduce the first of a number of things or reasons that you want to mention or could mention.
You must get her name and address, and that can be a problem for a start...
10 [PHRASE] V inflects
If you get off to a good start, you are successful in the early stages of doing something. If you get off to a bad start, you are not successful in the early stages of doing something.
The new Prime Minister has got off to a good start, but he still has to demonstrate what manner of leader he is going to be...
11 [PHRASE] PHR with cl
To start with means at the very first stage of an event or process.
To start with, the pressure on her was very heavy, but it's eased off a bit now...
12
in fits and starts: see fit
to get off to a flying start: see flyingfalse start (false starts)
1 [N-COUNT]
A false start is an attempt to start something, such as a speech, project, or plan, which fails because you were not properly prepared or ready to begin.
Any economic reform, he said, faced false starts and mistakes.
2 [N-COUNT]
If there is a false start at the beginning of a race, one of the competitors moves before the person who starts the race has given the signal.head start (head starts)
[N-COUNT] usu sing, oft N on/over n
If you have a head start on other people, you have an advantage over them in something such as a competition or race.
A good education gives your child a head start in life.start off
1 [PHRASAL VERB] V P by -ing, V P -ing
If you start off by doing something, you do it as the first part of an activity.
She started off by accusing him of blackmail but he more or less ignored her...
Joe Loss started off playing piano background music for silent films in the 1920s.
2 [PHRASAL VERB] V n P
To start someone off means to cause them to begin doing something.
Her mother started her off acting in children's theatre.
3 [PHRASAL VERB] V n P
To start something off means to cause it to begin.
Best results are obtained by starting the plants off in a warm greenhouse.
4
see start 4start on
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n
If you start on something that needs to be done, you start dealing with it.
No need for you to start on the washing-up yet...start out
1 [PHRASAL VERB] V P as n, V P as n
If someone or something starts out as a particular thing, they are that thing at the beginning although they change later.
Daly was a fast-talking Irish-American who had started out as a salesman...
What started out as fun quickly became hard work.
2 [PHRASAL VERB] V P by -ing
If you start out by doing something, you do it at the beginning of an activity.
We started out by looking at ways in which big projects such as railways could be financed by the private sector...start over
[PHRASAL VERB] V P, V n P
If you start over or start something over, you begin something again from the beginning. (mainly AM; in BRIT, use start again)
...moving the kids to some other schools, closing them down and starting over with a new staff...
It's just not enough money to start life over.start up
see start 5, 6
1 [VERB] V to-inf, V n/-ing, V n/-ing
If you start to do something, you do something that you were not doing before and you continue doing it.
John then unlocked the front door and I started to follow him up the stairs...
It was 1956 when Susanna started the work on the garden...
She started cleaning the kitchen.
= begin
[N-COUNT]
Start is also a noun.
After several starts, she read the report properly.
2 [VERB] V prep, V prep, V n
When something starts, or if someone starts it, it takes place from a particular time.
The fire is thought to have started in an upstairs room...
The Great War started in August of that year...
All of the passengers started the day with a swim.
= begin
[N-SING] the N
Start is also a noun.
...1918, four years after the start of the Great War...
She demanded to know why she had not been told from the start.
= beginning
3 [VERB] V by -ing, V with n
If you start by doing something, or if you start with something, you do that thing first in a series of actions.
I started by asking how many day-care centers were located in the United States...
He started with a good holiday in Key West, Florida.
= begin
4 [VERB] V as n
You use start to say what someone's first job was. For example, if their first job was that of a factory worker, you can say that they started as a factory worker.
Betty started as a shipping clerk at the clothes factory...
[PHRASAL VERB] V P as n
Start off means the same as start.
Mr. Dambar had started off as an assistant to Mrs. Spear's husband.
5 [VERB] V n
When someone starts something such as a new business, they create it or cause it to begin.
Now is probably as good a time as any to start a business.
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n (not pron), V n P
Start up means the same as start.
The cost of starting up a day care center for children ranges from $150,000 to $300,000...
He said what a good idea it would be to start a community magazine up.
see also start-up
= set up
6 [VERB] V n, V
If you start an engine, car, or machine, or if it starts, it begins to work.
He started the car, which hummed smoothly...
We were just passing one of the parking bays when a car's engine started.
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n (not pron), V n P, V P
Start up means the same as start.
He waited until they went inside the building before starting up the car and driving off...
Put the key in the ignition and turn it to start the car up...
The engine of the seaplane started up.
7 [VERB] V
If you start, your body suddenly moves slightly as a result of surprise or fear.
She put the bottle on the table, banging it down hard. He started at the sound...
[N-COUNT] usu sing
Start is also a noun.
Sylvia woke with a start...
He gave a start of surprise and astonishment.
8
see also head start, false start
9 [PHRASE] PHR with cl/group
You use for a start or to start with to introduce the first of a number of things or reasons that you want to mention or could mention.
You must get her name and address, and that can be a problem for a start...
10 [PHRASE] V inflects
If you get off to a good start, you are successful in the early stages of doing something. If you get off to a bad start, you are not successful in the early stages of doing something.
The new Prime Minister has got off to a good start, but he still has to demonstrate what manner of leader he is going to be...
11 [PHRASE] PHR with cl
To start with means at the very first stage of an event or process.
To start with, the pressure on her was very heavy, but it's eased off a bit now...
12
in fits and starts: see fit
to get off to a flying start: see flyingfalse start (false starts)
1 [N-COUNT]
A false start is an attempt to start something, such as a speech, project, or plan, which fails because you were not properly prepared or ready to begin.
Any economic reform, he said, faced false starts and mistakes.
2 [N-COUNT]
If there is a false start at the beginning of a race, one of the competitors moves before the person who starts the race has given the signal.head start (head starts)
[N-COUNT] usu sing, oft N on/over n
If you have a head start on other people, you have an advantage over them in something such as a competition or race.
A good education gives your child a head start in life.start off
1 [PHRASAL VERB] V P by -ing, V P -ing
If you start off by doing something, you do it as the first part of an activity.
She started off by accusing him of blackmail but he more or less ignored her...
Joe Loss started off playing piano background music for silent films in the 1920s.
2 [PHRASAL VERB] V n P
To start someone off means to cause them to begin doing something.
Her mother started her off acting in children's theatre.
3 [PHRASAL VERB] V n P
To start something off means to cause it to begin.
Best results are obtained by starting the plants off in a warm greenhouse.
4
see start 4start on
[PHRASAL VERB] V P n
If you start on something that needs to be done, you start dealing with it.
No need for you to start on the washing-up yet...start out
1 [PHRASAL VERB] V P as n, V P as n
If someone or something starts out as a particular thing, they are that thing at the beginning although they change later.
Daly was a fast-talking Irish-American who had started out as a salesman...
What started out as fun quickly became hard work.
2 [PHRASAL VERB] V P by -ing
If you start out by doing something, you do it at the beginning of an activity.
We started out by looking at ways in which big projects such as railways could be financed by the private sector...start over
[PHRASAL VERB] V P, V n P
If you start over or start something over, you begin something again from the beginning. (mainly AM; in BRIT, use start again)
...moving the kids to some other schools, closing them down and starting over with a new staff...
It's just not enough money to start life over.start up
see start 5, 6