Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (2)
1.
an energetic person with unusual initiative;
2.
an electric starting motor that automatically starts an internal-combustion engine;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Self-starter \Self`-start"er\, n.
A mechanism (usually one operated by electricity, compressed
air, a spring, or an explosive gas), attached to an
internal-combustion engine, as on an automobile, and used as
a means of starting the engine without cranking it by hand;
-- called also a starter.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
self-starter
n 1: an energetic person with unusual initiative
2: an electric starting motor that automatically starts an
internal-combustion engine