Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Start \Start\, n.
1. The act of starting; a sudden spring, leap, or motion,
caused by surprise, fear, pain, or the like; any sudden
motion, or beginning of motion.
The fright awakened Arcite with a start. --Dryden.
2. A convulsive motion, twitch, or spasm; a spasmodic effort.
For she did speak in starts distractedly. --Shak.
Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a
hurry. --L'Estrange.
3. A sudden, unexpected movement; a sudden and capricious
impulse; a sally; as, starts of fancy.
To check the starts and sallies of the soul.
--Addison.
4. The beginning, as of a journey or a course of action;
first motion from a place; act of setting out; the outset;
-- opposed to {finish}.
The start of first performance is all. --Bacon.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. --Shak.
{At a start}, at once; in an instant. [Obs.]
At a start he was betwixt them two. --Chaucer.
{To get}, or {have}, {the start}, to before another; to gain
or have the advantage in a similar undertaking; -- usually
with of. ``Get the start of the majestic world.'' --Shak.
``She might have forsaken him if he had not got the start
of her.'' --Dryden.
Get \Get\ (g[e^]t), v. i.
1. To make acquisition; to gain; to profit; to receive
accessions; to be increased.
We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get.
--Shak.
2. To arrive at, or bring one's self into, a state,
condition, or position; to come to be; to become; -- with
a following adjective or past participle belonging to the
subject of the verb; as, to get sober; to get awake; to
get beaten; to get elected.
To get rid of fools and scoundrels. --Pope.
His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast.
--Coleridge.
Note: It [get] gives to the English language a middle voice,
or a power of verbal expression which is neither active
nor passive. Thus we say to get acquitted, beaten,
confused, dressed. --Earle.
Note: Get, as an intransitive verb, is used with a following
preposition, or adverb of motion, to indicate, on the
part of the subject of the act, movement or action of
the kind signified by the preposition or adverb; or, in
the general sense, to move, to stir, to make one's way,
to advance, to arrive, etc.; as, to get away, to leave,
to escape; to disengage one's self from; to get down,
to descend, esp. with effort, as from a literal or
figurative elevation; to get along, to make progress;
hence, to prosper, succeed, or fare; to get in, to
enter; to get out, to extricate one's self, to escape;
to get through, to traverse; also, to finish, to be
done; to get to, to arrive at, to reach; to get off, to
alight, to descend from, to dismount; also, to escape,
to come off clear; to get together, to assemble, to
convene.
{To get ahead}, to advance; to prosper.
{To get along}, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.
{To get a mile} (or other distance), to pass over it in
traveling.
{To get among}, to go or come into the company of; to become
one of a number.
{To get asleep}, to fall asleep.
{To get astray}, to wander out of the right way.
{To get at}, to reach; to make way to.
{To get away with}, to carry off; to capture; hence, to get
the better of; to defeat.
{To get back}, to arrive at the place from which one
departed; to return.
{To get before}, to arrive in front, or more forward.
{To get behind}, to fall in the rear; to lag.
{To get between}, to arrive between.
{To get beyond}, to pass or go further than; to exceed; to
surpass. ``Three score and ten is the age of man, a few
get beyond it.'' --Thackeray.
{To get clear}, to disengage one's self; to be released, as
from confinement, obligation, or burden; also, to be freed
from danger or embarrassment.
{To get drunk}, to become intoxicated.
{To get forward}, to proceed; to advance; also, to prosper;
to advance in wealth.
{To get home}, to arrive at one's dwelling, goal, or aim.
{To get into}.
(a) To enter, as, ``she prepared to get into the coach.''
--Dickens.
(b) To pass into, or reach; as, `` a language has got into
the inflated state.'' --Keary.
{To get} {loose or free}, to disengage one's self; to be
released from confinement.
{To get near}, to approach within a small distance.
{To get on}, to proceed; to advance; to prosper.
{To get over}.
(a) To pass over, surmount, or overcome, as an obstacle or
difficulty.
(b) To recover from, as an injury, a calamity.
{To get through}.
(a) To pass through something.
(b) To finish what one was doing.
{To get up}.
(a) To rise; to arise, as from a bed, chair, etc.
(b) To ascend; to climb, as a hill, a tree, a flight of
stairs, etc.