STARLING • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Starling

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/stˈɑrlɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Starling n.

(Zool.) 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.

(Zool.) A California fish; the rock trout.

A structure of piles driven round the piers of a bridge for protection and support; called also sterling.

Rose-colored starling. (Zool.) See Pastor.

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Etymology of 'Starling'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Starling" Quotes from Famous Books

... ascend above 5500 to 6000 feet, and is therefore more properly an inhabitant of the warm valleys. I do not remember seeing it at Mussoorie, which is 6500 to 7000 feet, although at 5200 feet on the same range it is abundant during summer. Its notes and flight are very much those of the Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), and it delights to take a short and rapid flight and return twittering to perch on the very summit of the forest trees. I have never seen it on the ground, and its food appears to consist ...

— The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 • Allan O. Hume

... or nets for the birds of the mountains,' she added, as if to turn the conversation; 'and once Margot found a young one caught, but she cried so bitterly about it that we took it home and nursed it till it got well. Did you ever see our starling, neighbour?' ...

— The Fairchild Family • Mary Martha Sherwood

... interesting as connected with the principle of imitation to which languages in part owe their origin, but in the cases of forced imitation, the mere acquisition of a vocal trick, they only serve to illustrate that power of imitation, and are without significance. Sterne's starling, after his cage had been opened, would have continued to complain that he could not get out. If the bird had uttered an instinctive cry of distress when in confinement and a note of joy on release, there would have been a nearer approach to language than if it had clearly pronounced many sentences. ...

— Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes • Garrick Mallery

... The starling flew to his mother's window stane, It whistled and it sang, And aye, the ower word of the tune Was 'Johnnie tarries lang.' —JOHNNIE ...

— The Chaplet of Pearls • Charlotte M. Yonge

... get out!' cried the starling," which isn't in any prayer book of course, save the prayer book of a ...

— Little Miss By-The-Day • Lucille Van Slyke

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