non-startern.
/nɒnˈstɑːtə/, U.S. /nɑnˈstɑrdər/ 1. A person who or thing which does not start; esp. a person or animal that fails to start in a race or other contest.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > [noun] > one who or that which is unsuccessful > one who is a failure
botch1769
non-starter1839
schlemiel1868
also-ran1896
rinky-dink1900
flivver1915
wash-out1918
jabroni1919
bust1922
blowout1925
dropout1930
zilch1933
sad sack1943
loser1955
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > [noun] > racer > non-starter
non-starter1839
1839 Morning Post 14 Oct. Of the above Ottoman, Sherbet, Rosabianca, Protector, the Angelica colt, and African Sal are already ascertained to be non-starters.
1865 Bell's Life in London 29 Apr. 4/4 The horse..was doomed to be a non-starter.
1891 Washington Post 14 May 1/1 Hon. Bill Owens, owner of Georgetown, concluded his colt was not fit, and refused to subject him to the trying ordeal, and he was announced as a non-starter.
1932 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 23 31 Besides the 33 non-starters, only two made no attempt at this test.
1987 E. Newby Round Ireland in Low Gear i. 17 I knew that unless a better alternative could be found she would be a non-starter in the Irish Cycling Stakes, 1985.
1994 Swimming Times Sept. 11/1 He was very nearly a non-starter as he tripped a little..whilst jumping to loosen up.
2006 New Yorker 29 May 87/1 Gordon..was named the league's top ‘sixth man’—that is, the best non-starter—because he averaged an impressive 15.1 points per game in limited playing time.
2. A person or thing that is unlikely to succeed or be effective, or that is to be rejected or discounted at the outset; an impracticable idea.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [noun] > that which is useless > useless person or thing
cumber-worldc1374
cumber-house1541
deaf nut1613
cumber-ground1657
dead duck1844
no good1871
dead wood1877
dead wood1887
blue duck1889
dud1897
cluck1904
non-starter1911
dead loss1927
dreep1927
write-off1935
no-gooder1936
nogoodnik1936
blivet1967
roadkill1990
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > inexpediency > [noun] > that which is inexpedient
non-starter1911
1911 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Aug. 425/1 Because I happen to have money I am out of the running—a non-starter, see—disqualified.
1914 Star 5 Sept. 1/1 A non-starter.—The Kaiser..was nominated only two months ago as the next recipient of the Nobel peace prize.
1934 P. G. Wodehouse Right ho, Jeeves ii. 27 I reminded myself that this non-starter and I had been at school together.
1942 ‘A. Bridge’ Frontier Passage iii. 49 That's one reason why non-intervention is such a non-starter.
1973 C. Mullard Black Brit. iii. ix. 109 People begin to dub the council a nonstarter.
1994 TV Week (Melbourne) 23 July 8/1 Richard Chamberlain has also declared himself a non-starter to reprise the role of..de Bricassart.
2015 C. Offe Europe Entrapped vi. 61 The claim of a European ‘identity’ deriving from some notion of the ‘Christian Occident’,..a plain non-starter if suggested as a self-description of the most secularized region of the globe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1839