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)
 

Get \Get\ (g[e^]t), v. i.

1. To make acquisition; to gain; to profit; to receive accessions; to be increased.

We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get. --Shak.

2. To arrive at, or bring one's self into, a state, condition, or position; to come to be; to become; -- with a following adjective or past participle belonging to the subject of the verb; as, to get sober; to get awake; to get beaten; to get elected.

To get rid of fools and scoundrels. --Pope.

His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast. --Coleridge.

Note: It [get] gives to the English language a middle voice, or a power of verbal expression which is neither active nor passive. Thus we say to get acquitted, beaten, confused, dressed. --Earle.

Note: Get, as an intransitive verb, is used with a following preposition, or adverb of motion, to indicate, on the part of the subject of the act, movement or action of the kind signified by the preposition or adverb; or, in the general sense, to move, to stir, to make one's way, to advance, to arrive, etc.; as, to get away, to leave, to escape; to disengage one's self from; to get down, to descend, esp. with effort, as from a literal or figurative elevation; to get along, to make progress; hence, to prosper, succeed, or fare; to get in, to enter; to get out, to extricate one's self, to escape; to get through, to traverse; also, to finish, to be done; to get to, to arrive at, to reach; to get off, to alight, to descend from, to dismount; also, to escape, to come off clear; to get together, to assemble, to convene.

To get ahead, to advance; to prosper.

To get along, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

To get a mile (or other distance), to pass over it in traveling.

To get among, to go or come into the company of; to become one of a number.

To get asleep, to fall asleep.

To get astray, to wander out of the right way.

To get at, to reach; to make way to.

To get away with, to carry off; to capture; hence, to get the better of; to defeat.

To get back, to arrive at the place from which one departed; to return.

To get before, to arrive in front, or more forward.

To get behind, to fall in the rear; to lag.

To get between, to arrive between.

To get beyond, to pass or go further than; to exceed; to surpass. ``Three score and ten is the age of man, a few get beyond it.'' --Thackeray.

To get clear, to disengage one's self; to be released, as from confinement, obligation, or burden; also, to be freed from danger or embarrassment.

To get drunk, to become intoxicated.

To get forward, to proceed; to advance; also, to prosper; to advance in wealth.

To get home, to arrive at one's dwelling, goal, or aim.

To get into.
   (a) To enter, as, ``she prepared to get into the coach.'' --Dickens.
   (b) To pass into, or reach; as, `` a language has got into the inflated state.'' --Keary.

To get loose or free, to disengage one's self; to be released from confinement.

To get near, to approach within a small distance.

To get on, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.

To get over.
   (a) To pass over, surmount, or overcome, as an obstacle or difficulty.
   (b) To recover from, as an injury, a calamity.

To get through.
   (a) To pass through something.
   (b) To finish what one was doing.

To get up.
   (a) To rise; to arise, as from a bed, chair, etc.
   (b) To ascend; to climb, as a hill, a tree, a flight of stairs, etc.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)