sterling

Pluralsterlings

1. 1
   British poundsnouncountable or uncountable

   The currency of the United Kingdom, whose basic unit is the pound sterling.

   The painting sold for two million sterling at the London auction.

   Traders sold sterling heavily after the central bank cut interest rates.

   Note

   After a sum of money it can stand in for pounds: Baroness Orczy's "Who Stole the Black Diamonds?" has a bid of "half a million sterling" for a famous set of jewels. Otherwise it names the currency as a whole, which is why people buy or sell sterling but count their money in pounds.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Silver of the official sterling standard, or articles made from it.

   The family's sterling came out of the cabinet only for Thanksgiving dinner.

   The bracelet is solid sterling, stamped 925 inside the clasp.

   Similarsilver, silverware

3. 3
   adjective

   Of acknowledged worth or influence: high in quality and carrying authority.

   The professor's sterling credentials gave weight to the committee's report.

   Coming from such a sterling source, the warning was taken seriously by the city council.

   Similarimpeccable, excellent, outstanding, exemplary, distinguished

   Oppositepoor, mediocre

   Note

   Praise that works best right before its noun: A. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad (1896) has "a sterling lad," and a 2014 BBC Sport report credits Southampton with a "sterling start to the season." It moves easily from verse to the sports pages, and a start, an effort or a performance can all be sterling.

4. 4
   genuinely goodadjective

   Genuine and pure in nature, and of great value or excellence.

   His sterling honesty won the trust of everyone on the board.

   The old ferries gave sterling service for decades before they were finally retired.

   Similaradmirable, excellent, splendid, fine, genuine

   Oppositepoor, shoddy

   Note

   Character is often its subject: Anthony Trollope's Framley Parsonage (1861) says a man must be made of "very sterling stuff" if undeserved misfortune is not to sour him, and that very shows this sense can be graded. Its other familiar pairing is sterling service; RAIL magazine in 2021 credits high-speed trains with years of it.

5. 5
   adjective

   Made from or relating to sterling silver.

   The museum displayed a sterling tea service made for the governor's household.

   Each piece carries a sterling hallmark stamped by the assay office.

6. 6
   adjective

   Connected with British money, including coins issued by Britain in the past.

   The 1967 sterling crisis forced the British government to devalue the pound.

   Exporters watched the sterling exchange rate closely all week.

   Note

   Unlike most English adjectives, this one often comes after its noun, as in the pound sterling or a price in pounds sterling. It is a plain label for which money is meant, so it never takes more or very.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The gold and silver coinage formerly struck in Britain to a legal standard of purity: 91.666 percent for gold and 92.5 percent for silver.

   Foreign traders accepted English sterling because its silver content could be relied on.

   Royal officers tested each batch of sterling at the mint to make sure it met the legal fineness.

   Note

   The word named a standard as much as a coin: so much fine metal in every piece, and no less. Stephen Martin Leake's Historical Account of English Money (1793) judges that sterling was the known and approved standard in England, in all probability, from the beginning of Henry II's reign.

8. 8
   silver pennynounhistoricalcountable or uncountable

   A silver penny, as struck in earlier centuries.

   Each laborer received a single sterling for a long day in the fields.

   In England sterlings and nobles were struck, both of them often counterfeited.

   1911, Charles G. Herbermann et al., editors

   Note

   Writers of history use it for the coin itself, and the coin may be where the whole word began. One explanation makes a sterling a "little star," after the stars that appeared on certain English pennies; another traces the first part to a word meaning "strong" or "stout." Neither is certain, and the money, silver and praise senses all share the puzzle.

9. 9
   bridge guardnouncountable

   A structure of pilings built to protect the piers of a bridge.

   Workers drove new oak piles to rebuild the sterling around the bridge's central pier.

   Flood debris piled up against the sterlings until the river raced between the arches.

   Note

   The same structure is also spelled starling, and the word has a separate history from the money senses. Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter (1927) shows one from the river's point of view: bubbles end in a swirl by "a weed-fringed sterling" beside the piers of a bridge's middle arch.

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