From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstart out phrasal verb1 to begin happening or existing in a particular way, especially when this changes later as ‘The Star’ started out as a small weekly newspaper. The leaves start out a pale green, and later get darker.2 to begin your life or profession, or an important period of time When the band first started out, they played at small clubs. as She started out as a model. on young couples starting out on their life together3 to begin going somewhere Oliver started out at five, when it was still dark. → start→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
start as• What had started out as a bad day had suddenly become brighter.• What had started out as a localized punch-up, had now developed into wholesale slaughter.• What had started out as a quest for metallic hydrogen now became a serious hunt for fusion.• Blake started out as a salesman, but afterward got into advertising.• Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, lest we forget, started out as a shortstop.• And yet when you are first starting out as an entrepreneur, a detour is awfully hard to resist.• But that was only because it had started out as one of the worst in the industrialized world.• Microbrewing Brewing started out as something of a hobby for Stutrud until 1984.start as• What had started out as a bad day had suddenly become brighter.• What had started out as a localized punch-up, had now developed into wholesale slaughter.• What had started out as a quest for metallic hydrogen now became a serious hunt for fusion.• Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, lest we forget, started out as a shortstop.• And yet when you are first starting out as an entrepreneur, a detour is awfully hard to resist.• But that was only because it had started out as one of the worst in the industrialized world.• Microbrewing Brewing started out as something of a hobby for Stutrud until 1984. 