starter
[stahr-ter]
- a person or thing that starts.
- a person who gives the signal to begin, as for a race, the running of a train, bus, elevator, etc.
- a device that starts an internal-combustion engine without a need for cranking by hand.
- a person or thing that starts in a race or contest: Only five starters finished the race.
- a culture of bacteria used to start a particular fermentation, as in the manufacture of cheese, buttermilk, sour cream, etc.
- Cookery. sourdough(def 1).
- Slang. a shill, as at a gaming table in a casino.
- Cribbage. the card turned face up on the stack before the play.
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- constituting a basis or beginning: a starter set of dishes; a starter home.
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- for starters, Informal. as the first step or part; initially; first: We will have soup for starters. For starters, he doesn't even know how to drive.
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Origin of starter
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for starters
Contemporary Examples
For starters, that religious-themed movies are difficult to make and even more difficult to make successful.
Are You There, God? It’s Nicolas Cage and the Year in Cinematically Pimped ReligionMatthew Paul Turner
December 28, 2014
For starters, from a purely practical, all-hands-on-deck position, I say if you can do the job, you should keep the job.
For starters: No one knows what the future strategy against ISIS will look like.
For starters, both the bats and the virus have to be present.
For starters, the average age of the Best Actor Oscar nominees last year was 47.
Historical Examples
There were more than forty starters, of which eight finished.
Flying MachinesW.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell
Some use their starters frequently, and make only short runs.
The Automobile Storage BatteryO. A. Witte
Well, while there were two starters, there was only one finisher.
On a Donkey's Hurricane DeckR. Pitcher Woodward
Crack went the starters pistol, and the runners were away on their course.
For the Honor of RandallLester Chadwick
These be fine sandwiches and will sarve us very well for starters.
The Boy Patrol on GuardEdward S. Ellis
starter
- a device for starting an internal-combustion engine, usually consisting of a powerful electric motor that engages with the flywheelFormerly called self-starter
- US a person who organizes the timely departure of buses, trains, etc
- a person who supervises and signals the start of a race
- a competitor who starts in a race or contest
- informal, mainly Australian and NZ an acceptable or practicable proposition, plan, idea, etc
- Australian and NZ informal a person who is willing to engage in a particular activity
- a culture of bacteria used to start fermentation, as in making cheese or yogurt
- mainly British the first course of a meal
- (modifier) designed to be used by a novicea starter kit
- for starters slang in the first place
- under starter's orders
- (of horses in a race) awaiting the start signal
- (of a person) eager or ready to begin
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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
Word Origin and History for starters
starter
n.
c.1400, stertour "instigator; one who starts," agent noun from start (v.). For starters "to begin with" is 1873, American English colloquial. Starter home is from 1976; starter set is from 1946, originally of china.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with starters
starters
see under for openers.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.