starting gun noun2 •A gun fired to start a race.No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun — 1973 •(figurative) A signal to start or proceed; something that triggers an event or situation.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. — 2021 formsstarting guns
