starting block
a device used by runners, especially sprinters, for increasing their speed off the mark, consisting of a metal or wooden frame, usually secured to the ground at both ends, with adjustable, triangular-shaped blocks on each side for bracing the feet.
Origin of starting block
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use starting block in a sentence
Kim leapt from the starting block, arcing long and effortlessly over my head, and entered the water.
He shoots off the starting blocks, propelling himself through the air with his arms briefly splayed like a pterodactyl before he streamlines into the water.
Caeleb Dressel Isn’t Just The Next Michael Phelps. He Might Be Even Better. | Josh Planos | July 23, 2021 | FiveThirtyEightWhen they’re ready to relaunch their careers, their starting block has been moved back.
On this Mother’s Day, the crisis for working moms is hard to miss | Karla Miller | May 6, 2021 | Washington PostIn January, vaccine researchers lined up on the starting blocks, waiting to hear a pistol.
A COVID-19 vaccine may come soon. Will the blistering pace backfire? | Tina Hesman Saey | July 10, 2020 | Science News
British Dictionary definitions for starting block
one of a pair of adjustable devices with pads or blocks against which a sprinter braces his feet in crouch starts
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
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