"starting gun" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "starting guns",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "starting gun (plural starting guns)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Athletics",
          "orig": "en:Athletics",
          "parents": [
            "Sports",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "77 23",
          "word": "fire the starting gun"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1973, Roger Waters (lyrics and music), “Time”, in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:",
          "text": "No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gun fired to start a race."
      ],
      "id": "en-starting_gun-en-noun-K~WVL2zi",
      "links": [
        [
          "athletics",
          "athletics"
        ],
        [
          "race",
          "race"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(athletics) A gun fired to start a race."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "77 23",
          "word": "green light"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "77 23",
          "word": "morning gun"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "starting pistol"
        },
        {
          "word": "starter pistol"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "athletics",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "“In the fight for voting rights, this vote was the starting gun, not the finish line,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “We will not let it go. We will not let it die. This voter suppression cannot stand.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 September 27, Jonathan Watts, “Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Innocuous as it sounds, this note was a starting gun for a resource race on the planet’s last vast frontier: the abyssal plains that stretch between continental shelves deep below the oceans.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A signal to start or proceed; something that triggers an event or situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-starting_gun-en-noun-KM4PNkyj",
      "links": [
        [
          "signal",
          "signal"
        ],
        [
          "start",
          "start"
        ],
        [
          "proceed",
          "proceed"
        ],
        [
          "trigger",
          "trigger"
        ],
        [
          "event",
          "event"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A signal to start or proceed; something that triggers an event or situation."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "starting signal"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "starting gun"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "fire the starting gun"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "starting guns",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "starting gun (plural starting guns)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "green light"
    },
    {
      "word": "morning gun"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Athletics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1973, Roger Waters (lyrics and music), “Time”, in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:",
          "text": "No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gun fired to start a race."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "athletics",
          "athletics"
        ],
        [
          "race",
          "race"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(athletics) A gun fired to start a race."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "starting pistol"
        },
        {
          "word": "starter pistol"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "athletics",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "“In the fight for voting rights, this vote was the starting gun, not the finish line,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “We will not let it go. We will not let it die. This voter suppression cannot stand.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 September 27, Jonathan Watts, “Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "Innocuous as it sounds, this note was a starting gun for a resource race on the planet’s last vast frontier: the abyssal plains that stretch between continental shelves deep below the oceans.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A signal to start or proceed; something that triggers an event or situation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "signal",
          "signal"
        ],
        [
          "start",
          "start"
        ],
        [
          "proceed",
          "proceed"
        ],
        [
          "trigger",
          "trigger"
        ],
        [
          "event",
          "event"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A signal to start or proceed; something that triggers an event or situation."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "starting signal"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "starting gun"
}