stock

n., adj., & v.
—n.
1 a store of goods etc. ready for sale or distribution etc.
2 a supply or quantity of anything for use (lay in winter stocks of fuel; a great stock of information).
3 equipment or raw material for manufacture or trade etc. (rolling-stock; paper stock).
4 a farm animals or equipment. b = FATSTOCK.
5 a the capital of a business company. b shares in this.
6 one's reputation or popularity (his stock is rising).
7 a money lent to a government at fixed interest. b the right to receive such interest.
8 a line of ancestry; family origins (comes of Cornish stock).
9 liquid made by stewing bones, vegetables, fish, etc., as a basis for soup, gravy, sauce, etc.
10 any of various fragrant-flowered cruciferous plants of the genus Matthiola or Malcolmia (orig. stock-gillyflower, so-called because it had a stronger stem than the clove gillyflower).
11 a plant into which a graft is inserted.
12 the main trunk of a tree etc.
13 (in pl.) hist. a timber frame with holes for the feet and occas. the hands and head, in which offenders were locked as a public punishment.
14 US a = stock company. b the repertory of this.
15 a a base or support or handle for an implement or machine. b the crossbar of an anchor.
16 the butt of a rifle etc.
17 a = HEADSTOCK. b = TAILSTOCK.
18 (in pl.) the supports for a ship during building.
19 a band of material worn round the neck esp. in horse-riding or below a clerical collar.
20 hard solid brick pressed in a mould.
—adj.
1 kept in stock and so regularly available (stock sizes).
2 perpetually repeated; hackneyed, conventional (a stock answer).
—v.tr.
1 have or keep (goods) in stock.
2 a provide (a shop or a farm etc.) with goods, equipment, or livestock. b fill with items needed (shelves well-stocked with books).
3 fit (a gun etc.) with a stock.
Phrases and idioms:
in stock available immediately for sale etc. on the stocks in construction or preparation. out of stock not immediately available for sale. stock-book a book showing amounts of goods acquired and disposed of. stock-car
1 a specially strengthened production car for use in racing in which collision occurs.
2 US a railway truck for transporting livestock. stock company US a repertory company performing mainly at a particular theatre. stock dove a European wild pigeon, Columba oenas, with a shorter tail and squarer head than a wood pigeon and breeding in tree-trunks.
Stock Exchange
1 a place where stocks and shares are bought and sold.
2 the dealers working there.
stock-in-trade
1 all the requisites of a trade or profession.
2 a ready supply of characteristic phrases, attitudes, etc.
stock market
1 = Stock Exchange.
2 transactions on this. stock-still motionless.
stock up
1 provide with or get stocks or supplies.
2 (foll. by with) get in or gather a stock of (food, fuel, etc.).
take stock
1 make an inventory of one's stock.
2 (often foll. by of) make a review or estimate of (a situation etc.).
3 (foll. by in) concern oneself with.
Derivatives:
stocker n. stockless adj.
Etymology: OE stoc, stocc f. Gmc