starting block

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noun Track.

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.

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Origin of starting block

First recorded in 1945–50

Words nearby starting block

starters, start from scratch, star thistle, start in, starting, starting block, starting gate, starting grid, starting handle, starting price, starting rate

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.
Be a good example|April Sopkin|October 27, 2021|MIT Technology Review
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|FiveThirtyEight
When 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 Post
In 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

The U.S. military is finally starting to train Iraqi troops to fight ISIS in restive Anbar province.
Pentagon Insider on New Plan to Fight ISIS: ‘Of Course It’s Not Enough’|Nancy A. Youssef|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The memoir follows Oswalt from 1995 to 1999 as he was starting out on his comedy career in Los Angeles.
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire|William O’Connor|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Church bells pealed from St. Catherine of Siena parish one block away.
The Louisiana Racists Who Courted Steve Scalise|Jason Berry|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Starting under Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft, embassies headed by career diplomats increased in number.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
If the ball goes off the screen, it teleports back to the starting position.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“But the laws of Poloeland and those of Flatland are different,” said Amalatok, starting another objection.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
But,” said the prime minister of Flatland, starting a difficulty, “who is to be greatest chief?
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
The Spanish troops did not care to venture past a block of buildings in which were the offices and stores of a British firm.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
We have said it had been lightly laden at starting, which was the reason of the tremendous pace at which it travelled.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
Starting in Dallas he received orders for one hundred forty-two copies the first day.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux

British Dictionary definitions for starting block

starting block

noun

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

starting block

Origin of starting block

Words nearby starting block

Words related to starting block

How to use starting block in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for starting block