(stärt) v.i.
1. To make an involuntary, startled movement, as from fear or surprise.
2. To move suddenly, as with a spring, leap, or bound; jump.
3. To make a beginning or start; set out.
4. To begin; commence: The play starts at eight o'clock.
5. To protrude; seem to bulge: His eyes started from his head.
6. To be displaced or dislocated; become loose, warped, etc.: The rivets have started.
—v.t.
7. To set in motion: to start an engine; to start a rumor.
8. To begin; commence: to start a lecture.
9. To set up; establish.
10. To introduce (a subject) or propound (a question).
11. To displace or dislocate; loosen, warp, etc.: The collision started the ship's seams.
12. To rouse from cover; cause to take flight; flush, as game.
13. To draw the contents from; tap, as a cask.
14. Archaic To startle. See synonyms under INSTITUTE.
—to start in To begin.
—to start off To begin a journey; set out.
—to start out
1. To start off.
2. To make a beginning or start.
—to start up
1. To rise or appear suddenly.
2. To begin or cause to begin operation, as an engine.
—to start with In the first place; to begin with.
—noun
1. A quick, startled movement or feeling; a sudden quickening of sense, pulse, or nerve at something unexpected.
2. A setting out or going forth; beginning.
3. A temporary or spasmodic action or attempt; a brief, intermittent effort: by fits and starts.
4. Archaic A sudden impulse or effusion; burst; sally: starts of wit.
5. Advantage or distance in advance at the outset; lead: I had a start of five miles in the race.
6. Impetus at the beginning of motion or, figuratively, of a course of action: to get a start in business.
7. A loosened place or condition; crack: a start in a ship's planking. See synonyms under BEGINNING. [ME sterten start, leap, fusion of ON sterta overturn and OE styrtan start, jump]

(stärt) noun
1. The sharp point of an antler.
2. A tail-like piece.
3. The tail of a bird or animal: the original sense, now obsolete except in compounds: a redstart. [OE steort tail]