starting time

starting time (countable and uncountable, plural starting times)

1. The moment in time at which something is scheduled or supposed to begin.

   Synonym: start time

   • 1842, William Howitt, The Rural and Domestic Life of Germany, page 443:

     If you were not in your place in the carriage ten minutes before the starting time, or at the first ringing of the bell, you would be locked out.

   • 1850, Chapman and Hall (publisher), The Florist and Garden Miscellany - Volume 2, page 236:

     12:25 is the starting-time; and, hark! there is the bell—the whistle—the ‘go-ahead’.

• “starting time”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “starting time”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.