starling

noun5

1. •
   A family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds.
2. •
   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. — 1997
3. •
   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.
4. •
   One of the piles used in forming such a breakwater.
5. •
   A fish, rock trout (Hexagrammos spp.), of the North Pacific, especially, Hexagrammos decagrammus, found in US waters.