starter

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that starts.
2. n. An attachment for starting an internal-combustion engine without hand cranking. Also called self-starter.
3. n. A device that initiates a flow of high voltage across the electrodes of a fluorescent lamp.
4. n. Sports One who signals the start of a race.
5. n. Sports A participant that starts in a game or race.
6. n. Baseball The first pitcher for a team in a game.
7. n. Baseball A pitcher who regularly begins games for a team.
8. n. The first in a series, especially the first course of a meal; an appetizer.
9. idiom. for starters Informal To begin with; initially: "Deborah believes him, indicating, for starters, that she isn't the brightest” ( Judith Crist).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who or that which starts. One who shrinks from his purpose; one who suddenly brings forward a question or an objection.
2. n. One who sets out on a journey, a pursuit, a race, or the like.
3. n. One who or that which sets persons or things in motion, as a person who gives the signal for a race, or for the starting of a coach, car, boat, or other conveyance, or a lever or rod for setting an engine or a machine in motion.
4. n. A dog that starts game; a springer; a cocker.
5. n. In cribbage, the cut card.

Wiktionary

1. n. Someone who starts something.
2. n. Something that starts something.
3. n. The first course of a meal, consisting of a small, usually savoury, dish.
4. n. sports A player in the starting lineup
5. n. A dog that rouses game.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, starts.
2. n. A dog that rouses game.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a hand tool consisting of a rotating shaft with parallel handle
2. n. a contestant in a team sport who is in the game at the beginning
3. n. a culture containing yeast or bacteria that is used to start the process of fermentation or souring in making butter or cheese or dough
4. n. food or drink to stimulate the appetite (usually served before a meal or as the first course)
5. n. any new participant in some activity
6. n. an electric motor for starting an engine
7. n. the official who signals the beginning of a race or competition