starting gate
noun1
Equestrianism, Hobbies, Horses, Lifestyle, Pets, Sports A machine used to ensure a fair start in horse or dog racing by opening doors to allow all the racing animals out at the same time.
- Mobile starting-gates and horse-boxes stand parked along the kerbs, and behind every large house, it seems, is a red brick stableyard, gleaming with fresh black-and-white paint and polished steel.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:
2
Figuratively The beginning.
- Derived terms
- out of the starting gate