Start \Start\, n.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)