sterling silver


noun
  1. an alloy containing not less than 92.5 per cent of silver, the remainder usually being copper

  2. sterling-silver articles collectively

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use sterling silver in a sentence

  • The inside of the car-doors had been stripped clean and polished to a high metal gleam that glowed like sterling silver.

    Makers | Cory Doctorow
  • A footman brought in two small glasses of sparkling wine on a stamped sterling-silver waiter.

  • Neither had the sterling silver candlesticks on top of the sideboard been disturbed.

  • These could be duplicated in cut glass and sterling silver at almost any price one wished to pay.

    Gardening for Little Girls | Olive Hyde Foster
  • Again came the laugh, merry and clear as the tinkle of sterling silver.

Scientific definitions for sterling silver

sterling silver

[ stûrlĭng ]


  1. An alloy that contains at least 92.5 percent silver and up to 7.5 percent copper or another metal, used to make jewelry and silverware.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.