jackrabbit start

noun

A fast or quick start, as to a race.

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Meanings

nounjackrabbit start (plural jackrabbit starts)

plural jackrabbit starts

  1. A fast or quick start, as to a race.

    1993, Chicago Tribune (18 April), "Jackrabbit Start for Egg Hunt", Susan Kubian One little tyke had to be restrained from a jackrabbit start under the rope as his mother pulled him back, grabbing the hood of his jacket.

    3 more examples

    Both are grand horses that did not know defeat However Admiral will have to make a jackrabbit start to get away ahead

    1937 May 8, Hayward Daily Review, Hayward, California

    Secretary of Interior Ickes' plan to conserve gasoline by arresting "jackrabbit start" drivers and operators of fume-belching autos, starting tomorrow,

    1941 July 4, “Ickes Widens Drive On 'Gas' Wasters”, in Washington Post

    JACKRABBIT START ... The sudden acceleration of a motor vehicle from a standing stop. ... The analogy is to a jackrabbit (q.v.) leaping suddenly from cover and bounding quickly away when disturbed by a dog or a hunter.

    1995, Robert Allen Palmatier, Speaking of Animals: A Dictionary of Animal Metaphors
Cite this entry
APA

jackrabbit start. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jackrabbit%20start

MLA

“jackrabbit start.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jackrabbit%20start. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jackrabbit start,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jackrabbit%20start.

Source: jackrabbit start on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.