Emily Dickinson Lexicon

START, v.i. [D. storten, to pour, to spill, to fall, to rush, to tumble; Sw. störta, to roll upon the head, to pitch headlong; qu. G. stürzen. In Sax. steort is a tail, that is, a shoot or projection; hence the promontory so called in Devonshire. The word seems to be a derivative from the root of star, steer. The primary sense is to shoot, to dart suddenly, or to spring.]

1. To move suddenly, as if by a twitch; as, to start in sleep or by a sudden spasm.
2. To move suddenly, as by an involuntary shrinking from sudden fear or alarm. I start as from some dreadful dream. – Dryden.
3. To move with sudden quickness, as with a spring or leap. A spirit fit to start into an empire, / And look the world to law. – Dryden.
4. To shrink; to wince. But if he start, / It is the flesh of a corrupted heart. – Shak.
5. To move suddenly aside; to deviate; generally with from, out of, or aside. Th' old drudging sun from his long beaten way / Shall at thy voice start and misguide the day. – Cowley. Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside. – Watts.
6. To set out; to commence a race, as from a barrier or goal. The horses started at the word, go. At once they start, advancing in a line. – Dryden.
7. To set out; to commence a journey or enterprise. The public coaches start at six o'clock. When two start into the world together. – Collier. To start up, to rise suddenly, as from a seat or couch; or to come suddenly into notice or importance.