STOCK, n. [G., a stem, a staff, a stick, a block. This word coincides with stake, stick, stack; that which is set or fixed.]

1. The stem or main body of a tree or other plant; the fixed, strong, firm part; the origin and support of the branches. – Job xiv.
2. The stem in which a graft is inserted, and which is its support. The cion overruleth the stock quite. – Bacon.
3. A post; something fixed, solid and senseless. When all our fathers worship'd stocks and stones. – Milton.
4. A person very stupid, dull and senseless. Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks. – Shak.
5. The handle of any thing.
6. The wood in which the barrel of a musket or other firearm is fixed.
7. A thrust with a rapier. [Not in use.]
8. A cravat or band for the neck.
9. A cover for the leg. [Obs.] [Now stocking.]
10. The original progenitor; also, the race or line of a family; the progenitors of a family and their direct descendants; lineage; family. From what stock did he spring? Thy mother was no goddess, nor thy stock / From Dardanus. – Denham. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham. – Acts xiii.
11. A fund; capital; the money or goods employed in trade, manufactures, insurance, banking, &c.; as, the stock of a banking company; the stock employed in the manufacture of cotton, in making insurance and the like. Stock may be individual or joint.
12. Money lent to government, or property in a public debt; a share or shares of a national or other public debt, or in a company debt. The United States borrow of the bank or of individuals, and sell stock bearing an interest of five, six, or seven per sent. British stocks are the objects of perpetual speculation.
13. Supply provided; store. Every one may be charitable out of his own stock. So we say, a stock of honor, a stock of fame. Add to that stock which justly we bestow. – Dryden.
14. In agriculture, the domestic animals or beasts belonging to the owner of a farm; as, a stock of cattle or of sheep. It is also used for the crop or other property belonging to the farm. – Encyc.
15. Living beasts shipped to a foreign country; as, a brig sailed yesterday with stock on deck. The cattle are called also live stock. America.
16. In the West Indies the slaves of a plantation.
17. Stocks, plur. a machine consisting of two pieces of timber, in which the legs of criminals are confined by way of punishment.
18. The frame or timbers on which a ship rests while building.
19. The stock of an anchor is the piece of timber into which the shank is inserted. – Mar. Dict.
20. In book-keeping, the owner or owners of the books. – Encyc.

1. To store; to supply; to fill; as, to stock the mind with ideas. Asia and Europe are well stocked with inhabitants.
2. To lay up in store; as, he stocks what he can not use. – Johnson.
3. To put in the stocks. [Little used.]
4. To pack; to put into a pack; as, to stock cards.
5. To supply with domestic animals; as, to stock a farm.
6. To supply with seed; as, to stock land with clover or herdsgrass. – American farmers.
7. To suffer cows to retain their milk for twenty four hours or more, previous to sale. To stock up, to extirpate; to dig up. – Edwards' W. Indies.

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. To lay up] to put aside for future use; to store, as merchandise, and the like.
3. 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.

   Stock company (Theater), a company of actors regularly employed at one theater, or permanently acting together in various plays under one management.

4. Raw material; that out of which something is manufactured; as, paper stock.
5. The stem or branch in which a graft is inserted.
   
   

   The scion overruleth the stock quite. Bacon.

6. 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.
7. A plain soap which is made into toilet soap by adding perfumery, coloring matter, etc.
8. 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.

9. To suffer to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more previous to sale, as cows.
10. 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.

11. To put in the stocks.
    
    
    [R.] Shak.

    To stock an anchor (Naut.), to fit it with a stock, or to fasten the stock firmly in place. -- To stock cards (Card Playing), to arrange cards in a certain manner for cheating purposes. [Cant] -- To stock down (Agric.), to sow, as plowed land, with grass seed, in order that it may become swarded, and produce grass. -- To stock up, to extirpate; to dig up.

12. The principal supporting part; the part in which others are inserted, or to which they are attached.
    
    
    Specifically: --

    (a)

13. 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.

14. 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.
15. Same as Stock account, below.
16. 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.

17. Domestic animals or beasts collectively, used or raised on a farm; as, a stock of cattle or of sheep, etc.; -- called also live stock.
18. 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.

19. A thrust with a rapier] a stoccado.
    
    
    [Obs.]
20. 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.

21. A kind of stiff, wide band or cravat for the neck; as, a silk stock.
22. 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.

23. The frame or timbers on which a ship rests while building.
24. Red and gray bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.
    
    
    [Eng.]
25. Any cruciferous plant of the genus Matthiola; as, common stock (Matthiola incana) (see Gilly-flower); ten-weeks stock (M. annua).
26. An irregular metalliferous mass filling a large cavity in a rock formation, as a stock of lead ore deposited in limestone.
27. A race or variety in a species.
28. In tectology, an aggregate or colony of persons (see Person), as trees, chains of salpæ, etc.
29. The beater of a fulling mill.
    
    
    Knight.
30. 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.
    
    

    Bit stock. See Bitstock. -- Dead stock (Agric.), the implements of husbandry, and produce stored up for use; -- in distinction from live stock, or the domestic animals on the farm. See def. 10, above. -- Head stock. See Headstock. -- Paper stock, rags and other material of which paper is made. -- Stock account (Bookkeeping), an account on a merchant's ledger, one side of which shows the original capital, or stock, and the additions thereto by accumulation or contribution, the other side showing the amounts withdrawn. -- Stock car, a railway car for carrying cattle. -- Stock company (Com.), an incorporated company the capital of which is represented by marketable shares having a certain equal par value. -- Stock duck (Zoöl.), the mallard. -- Stock exchange. (a) The building or place where stocks are bought and sold; stock market; hence, transactions of all kinds in stocks. (b) An association or body of stockbrokers who meet and transact business by certain recognized forms, regulations, and usages. Wharton. Brande *** C. -- Stock farmer, a farmer who makes it his business to rear live stock. -- Stock gillyflower (Bot.), the common stock. See Stock, n., 18. -- Stock gold, gold laid up so as to form a stock, or hoard. -- Stock in trade, the goods kept for sale by a shopkeeper] the fittings and appliances of a workman. Simmonds. -- Stock list, a list of stocks, or shares, dealt in, of transactions, and of prices. -- Stock lock, a lock inclosed in a wooden case and attached to the face of a door. -- Stock market. (a) A place where stocks are bought and sold; the stock exchange. (b) A market for live stock. -- Stock pigeon. (Zoöl.) Same as Stockdove. -- Stock purse. (a) A common purse, as distinguished from a private purse. (b) (Mil.) Moneys saved out of the expenses of a company or regiment, and applied to objects of common interest. [Eng.] -- Stock shave, a tool used by blockmakers. -- Stock station, a place or district for rearing stock. [Australia] W. Howitt. -- Stock tackle (Naut.), a tackle used when the anchor is hoisted and secured, to keep its stock clear of the ship's sides. Totten. -- Stock taking, an examination and inventory made of goods or stock in a shop or warehouse; -- usually made periodically. -- Tail stock. See Tailstock. -- To have something on the stock, to be at work at something. -- To take stock, to take account of stock; to make an inventory of stock or goods on hand. Dickens. -- To take stock in. (a) To subscribe for, or purchase, shares in a stock company. (b) To put faith in; to accept as trustworthy; as, to take stock in a person's fidelity. [Slang] -- To take stock of, to take account of the stock of; to take an inventory of; hence, to ascertain the facts in regard to (something). [Eng.]

    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.