From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstarterstart‧er /ˈstɑːtə $ ˈstɑːrtər/ ●●○ noun [countable] 1 DF British English a small amount of food eaten at the start of a meal before the main part SYN appetizer American English We had soup as a starter, followed by steak.2 DSa person, horse, car etc that is in a race when it starts Of the seven starters, only three finished the race.3 DSsomeone who gives the signal for a race to begin The starter fired his gun.under starter’s orders (=about to begin the race)4 → late starter5 → for starters6 TETTCa starter motor → nonstarter, self-starter
Examples from the Corpus
starter• Dinners - select one from each section, i.e. a starter, main course and dessert.• What would you like for a starter - soup or garlic mushrooms?• His second-inning, second-base pivot allowed starter Ramon Martinez a successful outing.• In his first season, Fuller inherited a team that had graduated five seniors, including four starters.• Small selections of starters and sweets were also made available.• A push from a simple starter will set them rolling, after which their tractive tyres will accelerate them automatically.• On the court, the starters have yet to score a field goal.• John was one of the starters before he broke his leg.• The starters are so exhausted that they have nothing left to give in the last five minutes of the game.as a starter• Kamieniecki was pressed into duty as a starter because Jimmy Key had been ineffective in Game 1.• And the fans voted him in as a starter, anyway.• In addition, putting Kirk Scrafford in as a starter at tackle will solidify the line.• The afternoon was spent in the Aldershot Military Athletics Stadium officiating as a starter.• Serve the remainder as a starter with eight of the croûtons and the cheese.• Garnish with halved quails eggs and serve as a starter or as a main course with the watercress-flavoured mayonnaise.• In addition to salads use them as starters with avocados or as dips with your horsd'oeuvres.• He tells us that there are no such things as starters and reserves, just players. 