The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sterling \Ster"ling\, n. (Engin.)
   Same as Starling, 3.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sterling \Ster"ling\, a.
   1. Belonging to, or relating to, the standard British money
      of account, or the British coinage; as, a pound sterling;
      a shilling sterling; a penny sterling; -- now chiefly
      applied to the lawful money of England; but sterling cost,
      sterling value, are used. "With sterling money." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Genuine; pure; of excellent quality; conforming to the
      highest standard; of full value; as, a work of sterling
      merit; a man of sterling good sense.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sterling \Ster"ling\, n. [OE. sterlynge, starling, for
   easterling, LL. esterlingus, probably from Easterling, once
   the popular name of German trades in England, whose money was
   of the purest quality: cf. MHG. sterlink a certain coin. Cf.
   East. "Certain merchants of Norwaie, Denmarke, and of
   others those parties, called Ostomanni, or (as in our vulgar
   language we tearme them), easterlings, because they lie east
   in respect of us." --Holinshed. "In the time of . . . King
   Richard the First, monie coined in the east parts of Germanie
   began to be of especiall request in England for the puritie
   thereof, and was called Easterling monie, as all inhabitants
   of those parts were called Easterlings, and shortly after
   some of that countrie, skillful in mint matters and allaies,
   were sent for into this realme to bring the coine to
   perfection; which since that time was called of them
   sterling, for Easterling." --Camden. "Four thousand pound of
   sterlings." --R. of Gloucester.]
   1. Any English coin of standard value; coined money.
      [1913 Webster]

            So that ye offer nobles or sterlings. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            And Roman wealth in English sterling view.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A certain standard of quality or value for money.
      [1913 Webster]

            Sterling was the known and approved standard in
            England, in all probability, from the beginning of
            King Henry the Second's reign.        --S. M. Leake.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Starling \Star"ling\ (-l[i^]ng), n. [OE. sterlyng, a dim. of OE.
   stare, AS. staer; akin to AS. stearn, G. star, staar, OHG.
   stara, Icel. starri, stari, Sw. stare, Dan. staer, L.
   sturnus. Cf. Stare a starling.]
   1. (Zool.) Any passerine bird belonging to Sturnus and
      allied genera. The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
      is dark brown or greenish black, with a metallic gloss,
      and spotted with yellowish white. It is a sociable bird,
      and builds about houses, old towers, etc. Called also
      stare, and starred. The pied starling of India is
      Sternopastor contra.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Zool.) A California fish; the rock trout.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A structure of piles driven round the piers of a bridge
      for protection and support; -- called also sterling.
      [1913 Webster]

   Rose-colored starling. (Zool.) See Pastor.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

sterling
    adj 1: highest in quality [syn: greatest, sterling(a),
           superlative]
    n 1: British money; especially the pound sterling as the basic
         monetary unit of the UK

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

191 Moby Thesaurus words for "sterling":
   Christian, admirable, and pence, authentic, blameless, bona fide,
   candid, capital, card-carrying, cash, circulating medium, clean,
   coinage, coined liberty, cold cash, creditable, currency, decent,
   dinkum, divine, dollars, emergency money, erect, estimable,
   ethical, excellent, exceptional, exquisite, fair, filthy lucre,
   financial, fine, first-class, fiscal, following the letter,
   fractional currency, full of integrity, genuine, gilt-edged,
   glorious, gold, golden, good, hard cash, hard currency, heavenly,
   high-minded, high-principled, highly respectable, honest,
   honest-to-God, honorable, immaculate, immense, inartificial,
   incomparable, inviolate, irreproachable, just, law-abiding,
   law-loving, law-revering, lawful, legal tender, legitimate,
   lifelike, literal, lucre, magnificent, mammon, managed currency,
   manly, marvelous, matchless, medium of exchange, mintage, monetary,
   money, moral, natural, naturalistic, necessity money, noble,
   nonpareil, numismatic, nummary, original, pecuniary, peerless,
   pelf, postage currency, postal currency, pounds, principled, pure,
   real, realistic, reputable, respectable, right, right-minded,
   righteous, rightful, scrip, sensational, shillings, silver,
   simon-pure, simple, sincere, soft currency, specie, splendid,
   splendiferous, spotless, stainless, sumptuary, super, superb,
   supereminent, superexcellent, superfine, superior, superlative,
   sure-enough, terrific, the almighty dollar, the wherewith,
   the wherewithal, tremendous, true, true to life, true to nature,
   true to reality, true-dealing, true-devoted, true-disposing,
   true-souled, true-spirited, truehearted, unadulterated, unaffected,
   unassumed, unassuming, unblemished, uncolored, unconcocted,
   uncopied, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, uncounterfeited, undefiled,
   undisguised, undisguising, undistorted, unexaggerated,
   unfabricated, unfanciful, unfeigned, unfeigning, unfictitious,
   unflattering, unimagined, unimitated, unimpeachable, uninvented,
   unpretended, unpretending, unqualified, unromantic, unsimulated,
   unspecious, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, unsynthetic,
   untarnished, unvarnished, upright, uprighteous, upstanding, verbal,
   verbatim, veridical, verisimilar, very good, virtuous, wonderful,
   word-for-word, worthy, yeomanly



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

STERLING. Current money of Great Britain, but anciently a small coin, worth
about one penny; and so called, as some suppose, because it was stamped with
the figure of a small star, or, as others suppose, because it was first
stamped in England in the reign of King John, by merchants from Germany
called Esterlings. Pounds sterling, originally signified so many pounds in
weight of these coins. Thus we find in Matthew Paris, A.D. 1242, the
expression "Accepit a rege pro stipendio tredecim libras esterlingorum." The
secondary or derived sense is a certain value in current money, whether in
coins or other currency. Lowndes, 14. Watts' Gloss. Ad verbum.



U.S. Gazetteer Counties (2000):

Sterling -- U.S. County in Texas
   Population (2000):    1393
   Housing Units (2000): 633
   Land area (2000):     923.357747 sq. miles (2391.485484 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.131714 sq. miles (0.341137 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    923.489461 sq. miles (2391.826621 sq. km)
   Located within:       Texas (TX), FIPS 48
   Location:             31.818347 N, 101.045503 W
   Headwords:
    Sterling
    Sterling, TX
    Sterling County
    Sterling County, TX


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, AK -- U.S. Census Designated Place in Alaska
   Population (2000):    4705
   Housing Units (2000): 2554
   Land area (2000):     77.309128 sq. miles (200.229713 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    2.079789 sq. miles (5.386628 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    79.388917 sq. miles (205.616341 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            73070
   Located within:       Alaska (AK), FIPS 02
   Location:             60.529635 N, 150.797887 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     99672
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, AK
    Sterling


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, NE -- U.S. village in Nebraska
   Population (2000):    507
   Housing Units (2000): 234
   Land area (2000):     0.404357 sq. miles (1.047279 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    0.404357 sq. miles (1.047279 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            47150
   Located within:       Nebraska (NE), FIPS 31
   Location:             40.461893 N, 96.378355 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     68443
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, NE
    Sterling


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, CO -- U.S. city in Colorado
   Population (2000):    11360
   Housing Units (2000): 5171
   Land area (2000):     6.872008 sq. miles (17.798417 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    6.872008 sq. miles (17.798417 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            73935
   Located within:       Colorado (CO), FIPS 08
   Location:             40.625430 N, 103.211783 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     80751
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, CO
    Sterling


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, OK -- U.S. town in Oklahoma
   Population (2000):    762
   Housing Units (2000): 348
   Land area (2000):     0.797247 sq. miles (2.064860 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    0.797247 sq. miles (2.064860 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            70150
   Located within:       Oklahoma (OK), FIPS 40
   Location:             34.749450 N, 98.169470 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, OK
    Sterling


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, IL -- U.S. city in Illinois
   Population (2000):    15451
   Housing Units (2000): 6596
   Land area (2000):     4.672171 sq. miles (12.100868 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.188128 sq. miles (0.487249 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    4.860299 sq. miles (12.588117 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            72546
   Located within:       Illinois (IL), FIPS 17
   Location:             41.796805 N, 89.693258 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     61081
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, IL
    Sterling


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, KS -- U.S. city in Kansas
   Population (2000):    2642
   Housing Units (2000): 963
   Land area (2000):     1.419463 sq. miles (3.676391 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.035204 sq. miles (0.091178 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    1.454667 sq. miles (3.767569 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            68200
   Located within:       Kansas (KS), FIPS 20
   Location:             38.210658 N, 98.204549 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     67579
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, KS
    Sterling


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, MI -- U.S. village in Michigan
   Population (2000):    533
   Housing Units (2000): 197
   Land area (2000):     1.001597 sq. miles (2.594125 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    1.001597 sq. miles (2.594125 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            76420
   Located within:       Michigan (MI), FIPS 26
   Location:             44.032145 N, 84.020308 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     48659
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, MI
    Sterling


U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000):

Sterling, UT -- U.S. town in Utah
   Population (2000):    235
   Housing Units (2000): 81
   Land area (2000):     0.240713 sq. miles (0.623444 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    0.240713 sq. miles (0.623444 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            72940
   Located within:       Utah (UT), FIPS 49
   Location:             39.194264 N, 111.691627 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Sterling, UT
    Sterling