A device for starting a small internal-combustion engine in which a cord, wound round a pulley, is rewound by a spring after being pulled for the starting cycle.
Origin
1930s; earliest use found in The Sheboygan Press.
Definition of recoil starter in US English:
recoil starter
noun
A device for starting a small internal-combustion engine in which a cord, wound round a pulley, is rewound by a spring after being pulled for the starting cycle.