Stock (stŏk), n. [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.] 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.
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.