starter

Meanings

Plural: starters

Noun

• an electric motor for starting an engine
• a contestant in a team sport who is in the game at the beginning
• the official who signals the beginning of a race or competition
• any new participant in some activity
• food or drink to stimulate the appetite (usually served before a meal or as the first course)
• a hand tool consisting of a rotating shaft with parallel handle
• a culture containing yeast or bacteria that is used to start the process of fermentation or souring in making butter or cheese or dough
  • "to make sourdough you need a starter"
• Someone who starts, or who starts something.
• The person who starts a race by firing a gun or waving a flag.
• Someone who starts, or who starts something.
• A starting pitcher.
• Someone who starts, or who starts something.
• A person employed to take new players to the first tee at suitable intervals, and to provide them with caddies and equipment.
• Someone who starts, or who starts something.
• Something that starts something.
• An electric motor that starts an internal combustion engine.
• Something that starts something.
• A device that initiates the flow of high voltage electricity in a fluorescent lamp.
• Something that starts something.
• A yeast culture, or a medium containing one, used to start a fermentation process.
• Something with which to begin; a first property, etc.
• The first course of a meal, consisting of a small, usually savoury, dish.
• A player in the lineup of players that a team fields at the beginning of a game.
• A dog that rouses game.
• A short length of rope formerly used for casual chastisement in the Navy.
• A railway signal controlling the starting of trains from a station or some other location, more fully called a starter signal or starting signal.

Synonyms

appetiser, appetizer, crank, dispatcher, entrant, entrée, fledgeling, fledgling, freshman, hors d'oeuvre, neophyte, newbie, newcomer, starter motor, starting motor