Starter meaning : Someone who starts something. Something that starts something. The first course of a meal, consisting of a small, usually savoury, dish. (team sports) A player in the lineup of players that a team fields at the beginning of a game. A dog that rouses game. A short length of rope formerly used for casual chastisement in the Navy. A railway signal controlling the starting of trains from a station or some other location, more fully called a starter signal or starting signal.