1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 5949 He ȝef hem atten ende Four þousend pound of sterlynges.

1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 11840 Þe king..eche ȝer him sende A certein summe of sterlings to is liues ende.

c1300 Fleta (1647) ii. xii. 72 Per denar' Angliæ qui sterling' appellatur, et fit rotundus, qui debet ponderare triginta duo grana frumenti mediocria.

a1330 Syr Degarre 297 The ten pound of starlings Were i-spended in his fostrings.

1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xv. 342 As in lussheborwes is a lyther alay and ȝet loketh he lyke a sterlynge.

c1386 G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale 579 Myn hooly pardon may yow alle warice So þat ye offre nobles, or sterlynges, Or elles siluer broches [etc.].

1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Rolls) VIII. 167 Þ e kyng..ȝaf hym an hondred schillynges of sterlynges.

1418 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 32 I bequethe to Ionet my wyfe..xl. li of Sterlinges.

1423 Rolls of Parl. IV. 256/2 Silver..beyng as gode of alay as the sterlyng.

a1500 Brome Bk. (1886) 149 xx s. of starlynges.

1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 42 Paide in starlings, which were pence, so called.

1854 C. M. Yonge Cameos xxvi, in Monthly Packet Jan. 19 Your words smell of English sterlings.

1861 Numism. Chron. I. 56 English and Foreign Sterlings found in Scotland.

1387 in J. D. Marwick Charters Edinb. (1871) 36 vi^c mark of sterlyngis of the payment of Scotlande.

?a1600 tr. Assisa de Mensuris in Sc. Acts (1844) I. 674 King David ordanyt at þe sterlyng [L. (? 15th c.) sterlingus] suld wey xxxij cornys of gude and round quhete.

1609 J. Skene tr. Stat. Robert II in Regiam Majestatem 56 b The stirlin in the time of..king David, did wey threttie twa graines of gude and round quheat: Bot now it is otherwaies, be reason of the minoration of the money.

1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 656/2 The oldest pieces are silver pennies or sterlings, resembling the contemporary English money, of the beginning of the 12th century.

1433 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 95 Y bequethe to litill Watkyn, my Godsone..x markes sterlynges.

1464 Rolls of Parl. V. 530/1 An annuall rent of xl li. Sterlinges.

1480 Table Prouffytable Lernynge (Caxton) (1964) 48 A pound sterlings.

1486 in H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church (1905) ii vj marc sterlynges.

1528 in I. S. Leadam Select Cases Star Chamber (1911) II. 20 As moche wood as ys woorth iiij powndes sterlynges.

1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 248^v The thousande pieces wer muche about the summe of twentie nobles sterlynges.

1474 Stat. Winch. in Cov. Leet Bk. 396 xxxij graynes of whete take out of the mydens of the Ere makith a sterling oþer-wyse called a peny; & xx sterling maketh an Ounce.

1496–7 Act 12 Hen. VII c. 5 Every unce [shall] conteyn xx sterlinges, and every sterling be of the weight of xxxij cornes of whete that growe in the myddes of the Eare of the whete.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Carat For eight of them [carrats] make but one sterlin, and a sterlin is the 24 part of an ounce.

1776 J. Entick Hist. London I. 160 A penny, weighing two sterlings.

1612 W. Colson Gen. Treasury H h ij A Table to finde Auerdupois weight reduced to Troy weight, and sterling weight.

1601 in T. Stafford Pacata Hibernia (1633) ii. iv. 157 Monies of this new Standard of Ireland..being brought back againe to the Exchange to be converted in sterling.

1724 J. Swift Let. to Shop-keepers of Ireland (new ed.) 9 The Tenants are obliged by their Leases to pay Sterling which is Lawful Current Money of England.

1834 J. D. Lang Hist. Acct. New S. Wales (1837) I. 206 The debts of the small settlers had all been contracted in sterling, and the price they received for their wheat..was in currency.

1890 Daily News 2 July 3/6 The lay treasurer of the society, who said that for a long time he had been opposed to the payments in India being made in sterling.

1892 Daily News 19 Dec. 3/3 The effort has been made here to draw bills on America with the notion of selling at once for sterling, and using depreciated currency to pay the bills when due.

1900 Westm. Gaz. 8 Nov. 5/2 Sterling rose as promptly as it fell during last week's chaotic Money market. (New York.)

1827 P. Cunningham Two Years New S. Wales II. xxi. 53 Our colonial-born brethren are best known here by the name of Currency, in contradistinction to Sterling or those born in the mother-country.

1834 J. D. Lang Hist. Acct. New S. Wales (1837) I. 220 Contests..between the colonial youth and natives of England, or, to use the phrase of the colony, between currency and sterling.

1892 K. Lentzner Austral. Word-bk. 19 Currency, persons born in Australia, natives of England being termed ‘sterling’.

1894 H. Bell Railway Policy India 81 A new contract..granting a sterling guarantee of 3½ per cent on the capital expended.

1894 H. Bell Railway Policy India 244 The sterling interest charges now payable on Indian railways..are equivalent to a payment of interest of over 7·6 per cent..if converted into rupees at par.

1898 W. J. Greenwood Commerc. Corr. (ed. 2) 108 This sterling invoice was sent to Hamburg.

1903 Pitman's Business Man's Guide 409 Sterling Bonds, the bonds of certain American railroad companies which have been issued in the United Kingdom and are payable in English currency, and not in that of the United States.

1912 Times 19 Dec. 16/3 Sterling exchange was irregular.

1932 B. Blackett in Times 23 Jan. 12/4 What I have called the sterling area is sufficiently large and diversified to enable it to be to a very large extent self-contained.

1935 Economist 5 Jan. 1/2 The devaluation of the dollar and of the currencies of the sterling group..means that the currency value of the world's existing gold supply has immensely increased.

1935 Economist 26 Jan. 216/2 They might reasonably hope for a moderate increase in trade during the coming year, particularly, between countries within the ‘sterling bloc’.

1937 A. Huxley Ends & Means v. 41 This has already been done in the case of the Sterling Bloc, which is composed of countries whose rulers have decided that it is worth while to co-ordinate their separate national plans so that they shall not interfere with one another.

1948 G. Crowther Outl. Money (ed. 2) v. 170 Overseas countries, especially those of the Commonwealth, were content during the war to sell more to Britain than they bought from her, and to take bank deposits in London..in payment of the difference. These were the famous ‘sterling balances’.

1949 A. Koestler Promise & Fulfilm. xv. 166 On February 22, 1948, Palestine was at short notice expulsed from the Sterling Block.

1956 R. S. Sayers Financial Policy viii. 235 The Sterling Area became a legal entity, an area inside which payment in sterling was unrestricted.

1977 Time 24 Jan. 14/1 In the past three decades, few remnants of that empire have bedeviled the British more than the ‘sterling balances’—deposits from governments and private parties abroad that are kept in British banks and government bonds.

1979 H. Wilson Final Term 3 The Sterling Area was dismantled at a stroke.

1641 J. Milton Animadversions 21 Setting aside the odde coinage of your phrase, which no mintmaister of language would allow for sterling.

1651 N. Culpeper Astrol. Judgm. Dis. (1658) 154 If the credit of Hippocrates may passe for starling, he protests that [etc.].

1725 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman I. xviii. 301 What are they but washing over a brass shilling to make it pass for sterling?

1780 E. Burke Speech Bristol previous to Election 5 If our member's conduct can bear this touch, mark it for sterling.

1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India III. vi. i. 30 Such are the inconsistencies of a speech, which yet appears to have passed as sterling in the assembly to which it was addressed.

a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 35^v This waie of exercise was..reiected iustlie by Crassus and Cicero: yet allowed and made sterling agayne by M. Quintilian.

1608 W. Shakespeare Richard II iv. i. 254 If my name be starling, yet in Englang Let it commaund a mirour hether strayte.

1488–9 Act 4 Hen. VII c. 2 All suche fyne silver..shall be..made soo fyne that it may bere xij. peny weyght of alaye in a pound wight, And yet it be as good as sterlynge and rather better than worse.

1551 J. Williams Acct. Monastic Treasures (1836) 86 In grotes stricken w^t harpes, the some of m^l m^l li, converted and made..of m^l dcxxv li sterlinge siluer.

1677 W. Badcock Touch-stone Gold & Silver Wares 35 If it [plate] be worse then Starling it will appear Yellowish.

1681 London Gaz. No. 1632/4 Five Silver-Hilted Swords, the Hilts of which are found upon the Tryal, more then one Shilling in every Ounce worse than the Sterling.

1684 Earl of Roscommon Ess. Translated Verse 20 Before the Radiant Sun, a Glimmering Lamp; Adult'rate Mettals to the Sterling Stamp, Appear not meaner, than mere humane Lines, Compar'd with those whose Inspiration shines.

1723 London Gaz. No. 6134/4 Silver..Shooe-Clasps, mark'd Old Sterling.

1743 N. Tindal tr. P. Rapin de Thoyras Hist. Eng. (ed. 3) II. xvii. 157 A pound of old Sterling Silver [was coined] into Half-Shillings, [etc.].

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. x. 151 The sterling mark upon plate, and the stamps upon..cloth, give the purchaser much greater security. View more context for this quotation

1689 J. Collier Moral Ess. conc. Pride 73 There is another Profession, which possibly does not glitter altogether so much upon the Sense, but for all that, if you touch it 'twill prove right Sterling.

1767 W. Harte Amaranth 35 True faith, like gold into the furnace cast, Maintains its sterling pureness to the last.

1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 990 What is base No polish can make sterling.

1785 W. Cowper Task v. 358 Were kingship as true treasure as it seems, Sterling, and worthy of a wise man's wish, I would not [etc.].

1974 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 3–4 Mar. g2/1 Sterling promises to grow both more valuable, and more beautiful, with time. Its luminous beauty..is destined to take on the soft, lustrous patina..prized by so many collectors of antique silver.

1977 ‘E. McBain’ Long Time no See iv. 48 The women cleaned house for other women, soaping fine china and polishing heavy sterling.