STARTING BLOCK Definition & Meaning

starting block

noun

Track.

a device used by runners, especially sprinters, for increasing their speed off the mark, consisting of a metal or wooden frame, usually secured to the ground at both ends, with adjustable, triangular-shaped blocks on each side for bracing the feet.

starting block

noun

one of a pair of adjustable devices with pads or blocks against which a sprinter braces his feet in crouch starts

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of starting block¹

First recorded in 1945–50

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

For me, the characters are all at the starting blocks, but the gun to start the race hasn’t fired yet.

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Next up was the boys’ 100-meter-dash finals, and because Panek and Barkley were using the same lane, it was her responsibility to hold down his metal starting blocks for him.

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It is not the sprint finish to the finish line, but the sprint finish to the starting blocks.

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So - which parts of Team GB triumphed, and which struggled to get off the starting blocks?

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The result was that she found herself still in the warm-up pool, instead of being on the starting block of the main pool, at call time for the final heat.

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