starling

name

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. A male given name transferred from the surname.

noun

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

1. 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.
2. One of the piles used in forming such a breakwater.