starting block
1
3.5
- noun
- /ˈstɑrtɪŋ blɑk/
:
bloque de salida
- Kari knelt on the track with her feet positioned in the starting blocks before the race began.
- diving from the starting block
Or the you can have like your starting blocks could be a pre cocked trampoline facing forward.
- Or the you can have like your starting blocks could be a pre cocked trampoline facing forward.
- So David Eagleman also talks about this example in his work of why we use sound rather than light at starting blocks and races.
Examples
-
Kari knelt on the cinder track with her feet positioned in the starting blocks.
Fiction book (2000) -
Ryan braced his feet against the starting blocks, then pushed off to test them.
Fiction book (1997) -
Just do a great race, I tell myself, settling into my starting block and looking at a string of lights: red, red, red, green.
Fiction book (1995) -
The runners were in the starting blocks for the 100-meter dash.
Fiction book (1997) -
The girls lined up behind the starting block in the order they would swim: Jen, Dana, Amy, Shanti.
Fiction book (1997) -
The runners were in the starting blocks for the 100-meter dash.
-
Olivia slipped her feet into the starting blocks and waited for the gun to go off.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'starting' (initial, relating to the beginning) with 'block' (an object), so the basic meaning 'a block used at the start' — i.e., equipment for beginning a race — is directly derivable from the parts. This is a literal, compositional phrase following common noun+modifier patterns (and found in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would grasp the general referent even if they might not know the precise technical features.
Etymology
Starting block names the small block with two places for a runner's feet that athletes use at the start of a race. Runners push off the block to get a faster, stronger 'start', so the name links the object to beginning the race.