START /stɑːt $ stɑːrt/ BrE AmE
abbreviation for Strategic Arms Reduction Talks; talks between the US and the former Soviet Union, which aimed to reach agreement about reducing the number of NUCLEAR WEAPON s that each country kept. Two START Treaties (=official agreements) were signed, START I (1991) and START II (1993), in which each country promised to destroy several types of nuclear weapons ⇨ compare ↑ SALT