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To start, roll, bound, spring, or fall back; to take a reverse motion; to be driven or forced backward; to return. Evil on itself shall back recoil. Milton. The solemnity of her demeanor made it impossible . . . that we should recoil into our ordinary spirits. De Quincey.

The European redstart.

To start back; to recoil; to recede from a purpose. J. Ellis.

Anything huge, extreme, startling, etc. [Slang.]

The red-breasted merganser, or sheldrake. [Local, U.S.] -- Water robin (Zoöl.), a redstart (Ruticulla fuliginosa), native of India.

By or in a circuit; by a course longer than the direct course; back to the starting point.

To cause to start from a covert or lurking place; as, to rouse a deer or other animal of the chase. Like wild boars late roused out of the brakes. Spenser. Rouse the fleet hart, and cheer the opening hound. Pope.

The act of falling or tumbling down; fall. [Obs.] "His ruin startled the other steeds." Chapman.

ocess or course of things taken together; in the final result; in the end; finally. [Man] starts the inferior of the brute animals, but he surpasses them in the long run. J. H. Newman. -- Home run. (a) A running or returning toward home, or to the point from which the start was made. Cf. Home stretch. (b) (Baseball) Se…

that which, sails; the motion of a vessel on water, impelled by wind or steam; the act of starting on a voyage.

to rove or range in pursuit or search of something; to scamper. So four fierce coursers, starting to the race, Scour through the plain, and lengthen every pace. Dryden.

One that starts from the scratch; hence, one of first-rate ability.

ch, ministry, and sacraments. A skeptic [is] ever seeking and never finds, like our new upstart sect of Seekers. Bullokar.

To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote; as, to set a psalm. Fielding.

Precisely; exactly; as, we shall start at ten o'clock sharp. [Colloq.] Look sharp, attend; be alert. [Colloq.]

To cause to move suddenly; to give a sudden start to; to shove. [Obs. or Prov.Eng.] Ash.

he horses of the army . . . were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without starting. Swift.

To start aside; to shy, as a horse. [Prov. Eng.]

An upstart. [Obs.] Ford.

A machine the operation of which is started by dropping a coin into a slot, for delivering small articles of merchandise, showing one's weight, exhibiting pictures, throwing dice, etc.