kick starter

noun

a starter, as of a motorcycle, that operates by a downward kick on a pedal.

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Origin of kick starter

First recorded in 1915–20

Also called kick start.

kick-start

or kick·start

[kik-stahrt]

verb (used with object)

to start by means of a kick starter: to kick-start a motorcycle.

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Origin of kick-start

First recorded in 1910–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for kickstart

Contemporary Examples

Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham made a sex tape to kickstart her career.
So You Want to be a Porn Star? Inside the Sex Tape Phenomenon
Aurora Snow
July 19, 2014
And so on May 1, we launched an experiment to see whether we could kickstart at least half.
Our New SuperPAC Is Going to Change American Politics for $12 Million
Lawrence Lessig, Mark McKinnon
June 6, 2014
I order a Belle Époque with Hapsburg Absinthe to kickstart the evening.
The Secret Speakeasies of Buenos Aires
Jeff Campagna
February 25, 2014
He wants to kickstart a process that leads to monstrous cuts in domestic discretionary programs and in entitlements.
How Obama Should Respond to Ryan
Michael Tomasky
March 12, 2013
My wife, Gena, and I give back in many ways, the chief of which is through our nonprofit children's foundation, KICKSTART KIDS.
Chuck Norris’s 10 Favorite Things About America
Chuck Norris
August 14, 2012

British Dictionary definitions for kickstart

kick-start

verb (tr)

to start (a motorcycle engine) by means of a pedal that is kicked downwards
informal to make (something) active, functional, or productive again

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noun

an action or event resulting in the reactivation of something

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Derived Formskick-starter, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012