Definition of "starling" [star•ling]

• 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. (noun)
• A protective structure of pilings surrounding a pier of a bridge. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""Anyone who thinks a starling is a pest just don't know anything about how a starling thinks" or something like that."
• "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."
• "The starling was the most common bird spotted around schools until 2009 when it was knocked off by the blackbird."