What is "starling"

Rock \Rock\, n. [OF. roke, F. roche; cf. Armor. roc'h, and AS. rocc.]

1. A large concreted mass of stony material; a large fixed stone or crag. See Stone.

   Come one, come all! this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.
   --Sir W. Scott.

2. (Geol.) Any natural deposit forming a part of the earth's crust, whether consolidated or not, including sand, earth, clay, etc., when in natural beds.

3. That which resembles a rock in firmness; a defense; a support; a refuge.

   The Lord is my rock, and my fortress.
   --2 Sam. xxii. 2.

4. Fig.: Anything which causes a disaster or wreck resembling the wreck of a vessel upon a rock.

5. (Zo["o]l.) The striped bass. See under Bass. Note: This word is frequently used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, rock-bound, rock-built, rock-ribbed, rock-roofed, and the like. Rock alum. [Probably so called by confusion with F. roche a rock.] Same as Roche alum. Rock barnacle (Zo["o]l.), a barnacle ( Balanus balanoides) very abundant on rocks washed by tides. Rock bass. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. The stripped bass. See under Bass.

   2. The goggle-eye.

   3. The cabrilla. Other species are also locally called rock bass. Rock builder (Zo["o]l.), any species of animal whose remains contribute to the formation of rocks, especially the corals and Foraminifera. Rock butter (Min.), native alum mixed with clay and oxide of iron, usually in soft masses of a yellowish white color, occuring in cavities and fissures in argillaceous slate. Rock candy, a form of candy consisting of crystals of pure sugar which are very hard, whence the name. Rock cavy. (Zo["o]l.) See Moco. Rock cod (Zo["o]l.)

      1. A small, often reddish or brown, variety of the cod found about rocks andledges.

      2. A California rockfish. Rock cook. (Zo["o]l.)

         1. A European wrasse ( Centrolabrus exoletus).

         2. A rockling. Rock cork (Min.), a variety of asbestus the fibers of which are loosely interlaced. It resembles cork in its texture. Rock crab (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of large crabs of the genus C, as the two species of the New England coast ( Cancer irroratus and Cancer borealis). See Illust. under Cancer. Rock cress (Bot.), a name of several plants of the cress kind found on rocks, as Arabis petr[ae]a, Arabis lyrata, etc. Rock crystal (Min.), limpid quartz. See Quartz, and under Crystal. Rock dove (Zo["o]l.), the rock pigeon; -- called also rock doo. Rock drill, an implement for drilling holes in rock; esp., a machine impelled by steam or compressed air, for drilling holes for blasting, etc. Rock duck (Zo["o]l.), the harlequin duck. Rock eel. (Zo["o]l.) See Gunnel. Rock goat (Zo["o]l.), a wild goat, or ibex. Rock hopper (Zo["o]l.), a penguin of the genus Catarractes. See under Penguin. Rock kangaroo. (Zo["o]l.) See Kangaroo, and Petrogale. Rock lobster (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of large spinose lobsters of the genera Panulirus and Palinurus. They have no large claws. Called also spiny lobster, and sea crayfish. Rock meal (Min.), a light powdery variety of calcite occuring as an efflorescence. Rock milk. (Min.) See Agaric mineral, under Agaric. Rock moss, a kind of lichen; the cudbear. See Cudbear. Rock oil. See Petroleum. Rock parrakeet (Zo["o]l.), a small Australian parrakeet ( Euphema petrophila), which nests in holes among the rocks of high cliffs. Its general color is yellowish olive green; a frontal band and the outer edge of the wing quills are deep blue, and the central tail feathers bluish green. Rock pigeon (Zo["o]l.), the wild pigeon ( Columba livia) Of Europe and Asia, from which the domestic pigeon was derived. See Illust. under Pigeon. Rock pipit. (Zo["o]l.) See the Note under Pipit. Rock plover. (Zo["o]l.)

            1. The black-bellied, or whistling, plover.

            2. The rock snipe. Rock ptarmigan (Zo["o]l.), an arctic American ptarmigan ( Lagopus rupestris), which in winter is white, with the tail and lores black. In summer the males are grayish brown, coarsely vermiculated with black, and have black patches on the back. Rock rabbit (Zo["o]l.), the hyrax. See Cony, and Daman. Rock ruby (Min.), a fine reddish variety of garnet. Rock salt (Min.), cloride of sodium (common salt) occuring in rocklike masses in mines; mineral salt; salt dug from the earth. In the United States this name is sometimes given to salt in large crystals, formed by evaporation from sea water in large basins or cavities. Rock seal (Zo["o]l.), the harbor seal. See Seal. Rock shell (Zo["o]l.), any species of Murex, Purpura, and allied genera. Rock snake (Zo["o]l.), any one of several large pythons; as, the royal rock snake ( Python regia) of Africa, and the rock snake of India ( Python molurus). The Australian rock snakes mostly belong to the allied genus Morelia. Rock snipe (Zo["o]l.), the purple sandpiper ( Tringa maritima); -- called also rock bird, rock plover, winter snipe. Rock soap (Min.), a kind of clay having a smooth, greasy feel, and adhering to the tongue. Rock sparrow. (Zo["o]l.)

               1. Any one of several species of Old World sparrows of the genus Petronia, as Petronia stulla, of Europe.

               2. A North American sparrow ( Puc[ae]a ruficeps).

                  Rock tar, petroleum.

                  Rock thrush (Zo["o]l.), any Old World thrush of the genus Monticola, or Petrocossyphus; as, the European rock thrush ( Monticola saxatilis), and the blue rock thrush of India ( Monticola cyaneus), in which the male is blue throughout.

                  Rock tripe (Bot.), a kind of lichen ( Umbilicaria Dillenii) growing on rocks in the northen parts of America, and forming broad, flat, coriaceous, dark fuscous or blackish expansions. It has been used as food in cases of extremity.

                  Rock trout (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of marine food fishes of the genus Hexagrammus, family Chirad[ae], native of the North Pacific coasts; -- called also sea trout, boregat, bodieron, and starling.

                  Rock warbler (Zo["o]l.), a small Australian singing bird ( Origma rubricata) which frequents rocky ravines and water courses; -- called also cataract bird.

                  Rock wren (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of wrens of the genus Salpinctes, native of the arid plains of Lower California and Mexico.

"Sturnus vulgaris," Old English stærlinc "starling," with diminutive suffix -linc + stær "starling," from Proto-Germanic *staraz (cognates: Old English stearn, Old Norse stari, Norwegian stare, Old High German stara, German star "starling"), from PIE *storo- "starling" (cognates: Latin sturnus "starling," Old Prussian starnite "gull").

n. 1 A family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds. 2 # The common starling, ''Sturnus vulgaris'', which has dark, iridescent plumage. 3 A structure of pilings that protects the piers of a bridge. 4 A California fish, the (vern rock trout pedia=1), (taxlink Hexagrammus genus noshow=1), especially, (taxlink Hexagrammus decagrammus species noshow=1), the (vern boregat pedia=1) or (vern bodieron pedia=1).

n. gregarious birds native to the Old World

Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings are native to Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas as well as North America, Hawaii and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitats with native birds and are considered to be invasive species. The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the common starling, and throughout much of Asia and the Pacific, the common myna is indeed common.

Starlings have strong feet, their flight is strong and direct, and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. Several species live around human habitation and are effectively omnivores. Many species search for prey such as grubs by "open-bill probing", that is, forcefully opening the bill after inserting it into a crevice, thus expanding the hole and exposing the prey; this behaviour is referred to by the German verb zirkeln (pronounced ).

Plumage of many species is typically dark with a metallic sheen. Most species nest in holes and lay blue or white eggs.

Starlings have diverse and complex vocalizations and have been known to embed sounds from their surroundings into their own calls, including car alarms and human speech patterns. The birds can recognize particular individuals by their calls and are currently the subject of research into the evolution of human language.

In architecture, a starling (or sterling) or, more commonly, cutwater is a defensive bulwark, usually built with pilings or bricks, surrounding the supports (or piers) of a bridge or similar construction. Starlings are shaped to ease the flow of the water around the bridge, reducing the damage caused by erosion or collisions with flood-borne debris, and may also form an important part of the structure of the bridge, spreading the weight of the piers. So the cutwaters make the current of water less forceful.

One problem caused by starlings is the accumulation of river debris, mud and other objects against the starlings, potentially hindering the flow. The starling has a sharpened upstream edge sometimes called the nose. The cutwater edge may be of concrete or masonry, but is often capped with a steel angle to resist abrasion and focus force at a single point to fracture floating pieces of ice striking the pier. In cold climates the starling is typically sloped at an angle of about 45° so current pushing against the ice tends to lift the downstream edge of the ice translating horizontal force of the current to vertical force against a thinner cross-section of ice until unsupported weight of ice fractures the piece of ice allowing it to pass on either side of the pier. A sloped, ice-cutting starling is known as a starkwater.

Starling is a family of birds.

Starling may also refer to:

The Starling is a New Zealand sailing dinghy designed by Des Townson.

Starling is a messaging server that enables reliable distributed queuing with a minimal overhead. The code for Starling was originally developed inside social media firm Twitter and released as open source in 2008. The program was originally developed by Blaine Cook, now the former lead developer for Twitter.

It speaks the Memcached protocol for maximum cross-platform compatibility. Any language that speaks Memcached can take advantage of Starling’s queue facilities. Starling has been written in Ruby.

Starling is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Alan Starling (born 1951), English footballer
• Avril Starling (born 1953), English cricketer
• Bubba Starling (born 1992), American baseball player
• Ernest Starling (1866-1927), English physiologist
• Geoff Starling (born 1952), Australian rugby league player
• Hannah Starling (born 1995), British diver
• John Henry Starling (1883–1966), Australian public servant
• Josh Starling (born 1990), Australian Rugby League player
• Paul Starling (born 1948), Australian karateka
• Ronnie Starling (1909–1991), English footballer
• Simon Starling (born 1967), English artist

Fictional characters:

• Clarice Starling, protagonist of the films The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal
• Juliet, Cordelia, and Rosalind Starling, from Suda 51's hack-and-slash Zombie game Lollipop Chainsaw