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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of various Old World passerine birds of the family Sturnidae, characteristically having a short tail, pointed wings, and dark, often iridescent plumage, especially Sturnus vulgaris, widely naturalized in North America.
  2. n. A protective structure of pilings surrounding a pier of a bridge.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. An oscine passerine bird, of the family Sturnidæ and genus Sturnus, as S. vulgaris of Europe. The common starling or stare is one of the best-known of British birds. It is 8½ inches long when adult; black, of metallic luster, iridescing dark-green on some parts, and steel-blue, purplish, or violet on others, and variegated nearly throughout with pale-buff or whitish tips of the feathers. The wings and tail are duller-black, the exposed parts of the feathers frosted or silvered, with velvety-black and buff edgings. The bill is yellowish, and the feet are reddish. Immature, winter, and female birds are less lustrous, and more variegated with the ochery- or tawny-brown, and have the bill dark-colored. Starlings live much about buildings, and nest in holes of walls, crannies of rock, openings in hollow trees, etc. They are sociable and gregarious. sometimes going in large flocks. They are often caged, readily tamed, and may be taught to whistle tunes, and even to articulate words. The name starling is extended to all birds of the family Sturnidæ, and some others of the sturnoid series; also, erroneously, to the American birds of the family Icteridæ, sometimes known collectively as American starlings. The last belong to a different series, having only nine primaries, etc. The bird with which the name is specially connected in this sense is Agelæus phœniceus, the common marsh-blackbird, often called red-winged starling. The name of meadow-starling is often applied to Sturnella magna. See also cuts under Agelæinæ and meadow-lark.
  2. n. One of a breed of domestic pigeons which in color resemble the starling.
  3. n. Same as rock-trout,2.
  4. n. In hydraulic engineering, an inclosure like a coffer-dam, formed of piles driven closely together, before any work or structure as a protection against the wash of the waves. A supplementary structure of the same kind placed before a starling to resist ice is called a fore-starling. See cut under ice-apron.
  5. n. One of the piles used in forming such a breakwater.
  6. n. An obsolete form of sterling.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A gregarious passerine bird, of the family Sturnidae, having dark, iridescent plumage
  2. n. A structure of pilings that protects the piers of a bridge
  3. n. A California fish; the rock trout.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Zoöl.) Any passerine bird belonging to Sturnus and allied genera. The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is dark brown or greenish black, with a metallic gloss, and spotted with yellowish white. It is a sociable bird, and builds about houses, old towers, etc. Called also stare, and starred. The pied starling of India is Sternopastor contra.
  2. n. (Zoöl.) A California fish; the rock trout.
  3. n. A structure of piles driven round the piers of a bridge for protection and support; -- called also sterling.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. gregarious birds native to the Old World

Etymologies

  1. From Old English stærlinc, from stær ("starling") + -linc ("dimunitive suffix") (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Old English stærlinc : stær, starling + -linc, noun suff.; see -ling1.Perhaps alteration of Middle English stadelinge, from stathel, foundation, from Old English stathol; see stā- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Anyone who thinks a starling is a pest just don't know anything about how a starling thinks" or something like that.”

    More Than Human

  • “We know, in fact, that the starling is our greatest mimic, and that he often succeeds in recognizable reproductions of single notes, of phrases, and occasionally of entire songs, as, for instance, that of the blackbird.”

    A Shepherd's Life Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs

  • “The starling was the most common bird spotted around schools until 2009 when it was knocked off by the blackbird.”

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph

  • “A starling is a bird common to temperate climates here and in Asia.”

    WN.com - Articles related to Darwin showed interest in Indian biodiversity: Book

  • “Accordingly, the Pithamarda should bring the man to her house, under the pretence of seeing the fights of quails, cocks, and rams, of hearing the mania (a kind of starling) talk, or of seeing some other spectacle, or the practice of some art; or he may take the woman to the abode of the man.”

    The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana

  • “In such cases the girl “should bring him to her house under the pretence of seeing the fights of quails, cocks and rams, of hearing the maina (a kind of starling) talk .... she should also amuse him for a long time by telling him such stories and doing such things as he may take most delight in.””

    The Life of Sir Richard Burton

  • “In such cases the girl "should bring him to her house under the pretence of seeing the fights of quails, cocks and rams, of hearing the maina (a kind of starling) talk .... she should also amuse him for a long time by telling him such stories and doing such things as he may take most delight in.”

    The Life of Sir Richard Burton

  • “Accordingly, the Pithamarda should bring the man to her house, under the pretence of seeing the fights of quails, cocks, and rams, of hearing the maina (a kind of starling) talk, or of seeing some other spectacle, or the practice of some art; or he may take the woman to the abode of the man.”

    The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana Translated From The Sanscrit In Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding Remarks

  • “The birds we had seen hitherto consisted chiefly of prairie chicken, lark, snipe, and a small kind of starling that was continuously swarming around us, and was so tame that it would at times sit on our pack animals while on the march.”

    A JOURNEY TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS IN 1839

  • “I mean spread the left hand and shake the right high up, and thump with the left heel, and it means, “Anyone who thinks a starling is a pest just don’t know anything about how a starling thinks” or something like that.”

    Science Fiction Hall of Fame

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Lists

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Comments

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  • knitandpurl From By Hook or By Crook by David Crystal: "It is from Old English, steor + ling, 'spotted'. In the eighteenth century, two men who slept with the same woman were said to be brother-starlings. In the nineteenth century, the police used to refer to someone under surveillance as a starling – a person who had been 'spotted', a 'marked man'." (p 81) Dec 15, 2008

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‘starling’ has been looked up 2207 times, loved by 5 people, added to 44 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 9.