stock Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity)
    • he owns a controlling share of the company's stock
  2. noun the merchandise that a shop has on hand
    inventory.
    • they carried a vast inventory of hardware
    • they stopped selling in exact sizes in order to reduce inventory
  3. noun the handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun
    gunstock.
    • the rifle had been fitted with a special stock
  4. noun a certificate documenting the shareholder's ownership in the corporation
    stock certificate.
    • the value of his stocks doubled during the past year
  5. noun a supply of something available for future use
    fund; store.
    • he brought back a large store of Cuban cigars
  6. noun the descendants of one individual
    lineage; pedigree; parentage; descent; bloodline; ancestry; stemma; blood; line; line of descent; origin; blood line.
    • his entire lineage has been warriors
  7. noun a special variety of domesticated animals within a species
    strain; breed.
    • he experimented on a particular breed of white rats
    • he created a new strain of sheep
  8. noun liquid in which meat and vegetables are simmered; used as a basis for e.g. soups or sauces
    broth.
    • she made gravy with a base of beef stock
  9. noun the reputation and popularity a person has
    • his stock was so high he could have been elected mayor
  10. noun persistent thickened stem of a herbaceous perennial plant
    caudex.
  11. noun a plant or stem onto which a graft is made; especially a plant grown specifically to provide the root part of grafted plants
  12. noun any of several Old World plants cultivated for their brightly colored flowers
    gillyflower.
  13. noun any of various ornamental flowering plants of the genus Malcolmia
    Malcolm stock.
  14. noun lumber used in the construction of something
    • they will cut round stock to 1-inch diameter
  15. noun the handle end of some implements or tools
    • he grabbed the cue by the stock
  16. noun an ornamental white cravat
    neckcloth.
  17. noun any animals kept for use or profit
    farm animal; livestock.
  18. verb have on hand
    carry; stockpile.
    • Do you carry kerosene heaters?
  19. verb equip with a stock
    • stock a rifle
  20. verb supply with fish
    • stock a lake
  21. verb supply with livestock
    • stock a farm
  22. verb amass so as to keep for future use or sale or for a particular occasion or use
    stock up; buy in.
    • let's stock coffee as long as prices are low
  23. verb provide or furnish with a stock of something
    • stock the larder with meat
  24. verb put forth and grow sprouts or shoots
    sprout.
    • the plant sprouted early this year
  25. adjective satellite repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
    well-worn; commonplace; hackneyed; tired; old-hat; timeworn; trite; banal; threadbare; shopworn.
    • bromidic sermons
    • his remarks were trite and commonplace
    • hackneyed phrases
    • a stock answer
    • repeating threadbare jokes
    • parroting some timeworn axiom
    • the trite metaphor `hard as nails'
  26. adjective satellite routine
    • a stock answer
  27. adjective satellite regularly and widely used or sold
    standard.
    • a standard size
    • a stock item

WordNet

Stock noun
Etymology
AS. stocc a stock, trunk, stick; akin to D. stok, G. stock, OHG. stoc, Icel. stokkr, Sw. stock, Dan. stok, and AS. stycce a piece; cf. Skr. tuj to urge, thrust. Cf. Stokker, Stucco, and Tuck a rapier.
Definitions
  1. The stem, or main body, of a tree or plant; the fixed, strong, firm part; the trunk.
    Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. Job xiv. 8,9.
  2. The stem or branch in which a graft is inserted.
    The scion overruleth the stock quite. Bacon.
  3. A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post.
    All our fathers worshiped stocks and stones. Milton.
    Item, for a stock of brass for the holy water, seven shillings; which, by the canon, must be of marble or metal, and in no case of brick. Fuller.
  4. Hence, a person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense.
    Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks. Shak.
  5. The principal supporting part; the part in which others are inserted, or to which they are attached. Specifically: -- (a) The wood to which the barrel, lock, etc., of a musket or like firearm are secured; also, a long, rectangular piece of wood, which is an important part of several forms of gun carriage. (b) The handle or contrivance by which bits are held in boring; a bitstock; a brace. (c) (Joinery) The block of wood or metal frame which constitutes the body of a plane, and in which the plane iron is fitted; a plane stock. (d) (Naut.) The wooden or iron crosspiece to which the shank of an anchor is attached. See Illust. of Anchor. (e) The support of the block in which an anvil is fixed, or of the anvil itself. (f) A handle or wrench forming a holder for the dies for cutting screws; a diestock. (g) The part of a tally formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness. See Counterfoil. Eng.
  6. The original progenitor; also, the race or line of a family; the progenitor of a family and his direct descendants; lineage; family.
    And stand betwixt them made, when, severally, All told their stock. Chapman.
    Thy mother was no goddess, nor thy stock From Dardanus. Denham.
  7. Money or capital which an individual or a firm employs in business; fund; in the United States, the capital of a bank or other company, in the form of transferable shares, each of a certain amount; money funded in government securities, called also the public funds; in the plural, property consisting of shares in joint-stock companies, or in the obligations of a government for its funded debt; -- so in the United States, but in England the latter only are called stocks, and the former shares.
  8. (Bookkeeping) Same as Stock account, below.
  9. Supply provided; store; accumulation; especially, a merchant's or manufacturer's store of goods; as, to lay in a stock of provisions.
    Add to that stock which justly we bestow. Dryden.
  10. (Agric.) Domestic animals or beasts collectively, used or raised on a farm; as, a stock of cattle or of sheep, etc.; -- called also live stock.
  11. (Card Playing) That portion of a pack of cards not distributed to the players at the beginning of certain games, as gleek, etc., but which might be drawn from afterward as occasion required; a bank.
    I must buy the stock; send me good cardings. Beau. & Fl.
  12. A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado. Obs.
  13. Cf. Stocking. A covering for the leg, or leg and foot; as, upper stocks (breeches); nether stocks (stockings). Obs.
    With a linen stock on one leg. Shak.
  14. A kind of stiff, wide band or cravat for the neck; as, a silk stock.
  15. pl. A frame of timber, with holes in which the feet, or the feet and hands, of criminals were formerly confined by way of punishment.
    He shall rest in my stocks. Piers Plowman.
  16. pl. (Shipbuilding) The frame or timbers on which a ship rests while building.
  17. pl. Red and gray bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings. Eng.
  18. (Bot.) Any cruciferous plant of the genus Matthiola; as, common stock (Matthiola incana) (see Gilly-flower); ten-weeks stock (M. annua).
  19. (Geol.) An irregular metalliferous mass filling a large cavity in a rock formation, as a stock of lead ore deposited in limestone.
  20. A race or variety in a species.
  21. (Biol.) In tectology, an aggregate or colony of persons (see Person), as trees, chains of salpæ, etc.
  22. The beater of a fulling mill. Knight.
  23. (Cookery) A liquid or jelly containing the juices and soluble parts of meat, and certain vegetables, etc., extracted by cooking; -- used in making soup, gravy, etc.
    At the outset of any inquiry it is proper to take stock of the results obtained by previous explorers of the same field. Leslie Stephen.
    Syn. -- Fund; capital; store; supply; accumulation; hoard; provision.
Stock transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Stocked ; present participle & verbal noun Stocking
Definitions
  1. To lay up; to put aside for future use; to store, as merchandise, and the like.
  2. To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to supply; as, to stock a warehouse, that is, to fill it with goods; to stock a farm, that is, to supply it with cattle and tools; to stock land, that is, to occupy it with a permanent growth, especially of grass.
  3. To suffer to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more previous to sale, as cows.
  4. To put in the stocks. R. Shak.
Stock adjective
Definitions
  1. Used or employed for constant service or application, as if constituting a portion of a stock or supply; standard; permanent; standing; as, a stock actor; a stock play; a stock sermon. "A stock charge against Raleigh." C. Kingsley.

Webster 1913