starting signal

English

The down starting signal at Lostwithiel station, Cornwall, here called a starter signal.

Noun

starting signal (plural starting signals)

1. (rail transport) A railway signal controlling the starting of trains from a station or some other location, nowadays usually a colour-light signal.
   • 1882 June, “Official Reports on Recent Accidents”, in The Railway Engineer, page 157:

     As it happened, however, it was clear enough, when the platform starting-signal was lowered, for the signalman in box No. 5 to see his advance-starting signal, and he was therefore justified in allowing the train to go forward, and it was not until it had passed his box that, upon looking out, he saw that it had disappeared into the bank of fog, which had by that time hidden the advanced starting-signal from his view.

2. (sports) A signal to begin a race.
   • 2003, Ernest W. Maglischo, Swimming Fastest, Human Kinetics, →ISBN, page 277:

     At the starting signal, pull up and back against the underside of the starting platform to get your body moving forward.

Synonyms

• starter, starter signal

Translations

railway signal

• Finnish: lähtöopastin
• Hungarian: indítójelző

signal to begin a race

• Dutch: startsein (nl) n
• Finnish: lähtömerkki (fi)
• French: signal de départ m
• German: Startschuss (de) m
• Polish: sygnał startu m
• Portuguese: tiro de partida m

Further reading

• railway semaphore signal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia