PURPOSE: To improve draining performance by partially coating a pinion so as to prevent interference with a ring gear and also forming a plurality of water relief holes, opened to a position opposed to a diametric direction of the ring gear, in a housing nose part for supporting a bearing part in the point end of a pinion shaft.

CONSTITUTION: A starter is constituted of a switch part 10, motor part 11 and a pinion meshing part 12, and the switch part 10 turns a drive lever 3 with a supporting point (m) serving as the center by turning on a magnet switch 1, to extrude a clutch 6, engaged with the other end 3a of the drive lever, in a left direction and to mesh a pinion 4 with a ring gear 5 of an engine. The pinion meshing part 12 is constituted so as to partially coat the pinion 4, ring gear 5, etc., by a housing nose part 8, and a pinion shaft point end 9 is rotatably supported by a bearing part 14. Here, for instance, three slit-shaped water escape holes 15 to 17 are opened to a position opposed to a radial line direction of the ring gear 5 in the housing nose part 8.