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Starling

//ˈstɑːlɪŋ// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    An English surname transferred from the nickname from a nickname for a gregarious person.

    "When we had all laughed and applauded till we were faint, Starling, not to be outdone, favoured us with a more modern saltatory entertainment in the Lancashire clog manner — to the best of my belief, the longest dance ever performed […]"

  2. 2
    A male given name transferred from the surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    A family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds.
  2. 2
    An enclosure like a coffer-dam, formed of piles driven closely together before any structure or work, as a protection against the wash of waves, commonly used to protect the piers of a bridge.
  3. 3
    gregarious birds native to the Old World wordnet
  4. 4
    A family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds.; The common starling, Sturnus vulgaris, which has dark, iridescent plumage.

    "Vast flights of starlings, fleeing the racket, beat across the sky at high speed, like Squall-clouds,— Evening at Noon-tide."

  5. 5
    One of the piles used in forming such a breakwater.
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  1. 6
    A fish, rock trout (Hexagrammos spp.), of the North Pacific, especially, Hexagrammos decagrammus, found in US waters.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English starling, sterling, sterlinge, from Old English stærling, from stær (“starling”) + -ling (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch sterlinck (“starling”).

Etymology 2

Apparently a variant of staddling (although difficult to account for), or perhaps an alteration by association with another (unidentified) word.

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