start ‧ er /ˈstɑːtə $ ˈstɑːrtər/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ start , ↑ starter ≠ NON-STARTER , ↑ restart ; verb : ↑ start , ↑ restart ]
1 . 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 . a person, horse, car etc that is in a race when it starts:
Of the seven starters, only three finished the race.
3 . someone 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 starter British English someone who begins doing something, especially a job, later in life than people generally do
5 . for starters spoken informal used to emphasize the first of a series of facts, opinions, questions etc:
Well, for starters, you’ll need to fill out an application form.
6 . a ↑ starter motor
⇨ ↑ nonstarter , ↑ self-starter