# stock

Pronunciation: say "STOK" US /stɑk/, UK /stɒk/

## Noun

1. The shares of a company, or a portion of them held as an investment; also, the value of those shares as traded on the market. *(US)*
   - Simple: Shares in a company that people buy and sell, or how much those shares are worth.
   - _Investors who hold stock in the firm receive dividends each quarter._
   - _He moved his savings into stock rather than leaving it in a bank._
2. A supply of goods or other things kept on hand, ready for sale or for use when needed.
   - Simple: An amount of something kept ready so it can be sold or used when needed.
   - _The warehouse holds enough stock to cover three months of orders._
   - _Retailers clear out leftover stock at the end of each season._
4. A flavored liquid made by simmering meat, bones, or vegetables, used as a base for soups and stews.
   - Simple: A tasty liquid made by boiling meat, bones, or vegetables in water.
   - _The chef simmered the bones overnight to make a rich stock._
   - _A good vegetable stock forms the base of this risotto._
7. Farm or ranch animals such as cattle, sheep, and pigs, kept for use or sale.
   - Simple: Farm animals like cows, sheep, or pigs kept on a farm.
   - _Drought forced ranchers to sell stock they could no longer feed._
   - _The family raises both crops and stock on the same land._
9. The engines, cars, and other vehicles that operate on a railroad.
   - Simple: The engines, train cars, and other vehicles that a railroad owns and uses.
   - _The company invested heavily in modern stock to speed up freight deliveries._
   - _Aging passenger stock was gradually pulled from service across the network._
10. The part of a rifle or shotgun, often made of wood, that rests against the shooter's shoulder.
   - Simple: The wooden or plastic part of a gun that you hold against your shoulder.
   - _She rested the stock against her shoulder and steadied her aim._
   - _A well-fitted stock reduces the felt recoil of a powerful rifle._
11. The population of a wild animal, especially fish, available to be caught for economic use.
   - Simple: The number of fish or animals in the wild that people can catch.
   - _Scientists warned that the herring stock could collapse without strict quotas._
   - _Cod stock in the North Atlantic fell sharply during the late twentieth century._
14. A measure of how highly a person or institution is regarded by others.
   - Simple: How much people respect or value someone at a given time.
   - _The mayor's stock rose sharply following the successful recovery effort._
   - _After the failed product launch, the CEO's stock plummeted within the company._
12. Material from which things are made or produced, such as metal bars for machining, paper or card for printing, or film for photography.
   - Simple: Material used to make something, such as metal, printing paper, or photographic film.
   - _The magazine switched to a lighter stock to cut mailing costs._
   - _A heavyweight stock gives the brochure a more luxurious feel._
15. A person's family line or ancestry; the people one is descended from.
   - Simple: The family and ancestors that a person comes from.
   - _He came from sturdy peasant stock, generations of laborers and farmers._
   - _She was of noble stock, descended from an old aristocratic family._
16. Theater performed by a resident company that stages a rotating series of plays during a season, especially in summer.
   - Simple: A theater system where a group of actors performs several plays in one season, often in summer.
   - _Many famous actors got their start in stock, playing a new part each week._
   - _The director cut her teeth in stock before moving to film._
17. The pile of undealt cards that players draw from during a game.
   - Simple: The pile of cards left to draw from after everyone has their first cards.
   - _Each player takes a fresh card from the stock at the start of a turn._
   - _The dealer set the remaining cards aside to form the stock._
18. A tree's trunk together with its principal woody limbs; by extension, the base out of which something grows or branches.
   - Simple: The main woody trunk and stems of a tree, or the base that something grows out of.
   - _The vine climbed upward from a sturdy stock rooted deep in the soil._
   - _New shoots sprang up from the old stock after the tree was cut back._
19. The rooted plant onto which a scion (a shoot from another plant) is grafted.
   - Simple: The rooted plant that a cutting from another plant is joined onto.
   - _Nurseries often choose a disease-resistant stock for grafting delicate varieties._
   - _The apple cultivar was grafted onto a dwarfing stock to limit its height._
20. The handle or shaft of a whip, fishing rod, or similar implement.
   - Simple: The handle of a whip, fishing rod, or similar tool.
   - _She wrapped the whip's stock in fresh cord for a better grip._
   - _The whip had a stiff wooden stock wrapped in braided leather._
21. A necktie or cravat, especially a wide band popular in the eighteenth century and now worn as part of formal riding attire.
   - Simple: A wide necktie or band of cloth worn around the neck, now seen mostly in horse riding outfits.
   - _Her show outfit was incomplete without a snowy stock at the throat._
   - _The gentleman's portrait showed an elaborately folded silk stock._
13. A flowering plant of the genus Matthiola, a small group of species that belongs to the mustard family.
   - Simple: One of several kinds of flowering plants that are related to cabbage and mustard.
   - _The florist filled the vase with purple stock and a few white roses._
   - _Gardeners often sow stocks in early spring so the beds are in flower by summer._

## Verb

3. To supply or fill something with the materials or goods it needs.
   - Simple: To fill a place with the things it needs.
   - _Volunteers stock the food bank with donated goods each week._
   - _The state plans to stock the lake with trout this spring._
5. To keep goods on hand and available for sale.
   - Simple: To keep goods ready to sell in a shop.
   - _Local pharmacies stock a wide range of cold remedies._
   - _The bookstore began to stock more translated fiction._

## Adjective

6. Standard and regularly made or kept available, as produced by the maker, rather than custom-made, specially ordered, or modified.
   - Simple: Normal and standard, the way it is usually made or sold, not specially made or changed.
   - _Stock components ship immediately, while bespoke parts take weeks._
   - _The dealer offered a stock color rather than a special order._
8. Ordinary and unoriginal; of a familiar, predictable type rather than something freshly created.
   - Simple: Very ordinary and not special, just the usual kind you would expect.
   - _Her speech relied on stock phrases instead of fresh ideas._
   - _The villain was a stock figure, evil for no clear reason._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To confine a person in the stocks (a wooden frame clamping the ankles or wrists) as a public punishment.
- (noun) A grouping of related languages larger than a language family; a superfamily or macrofamily.
- (noun) Usually in the plural, stocks: the frame or timbers supporting a ship's hull while it is under construction, as in on the stocks.
- (noun) A component of a machine that supports objects or holds them in position.
- (noun) A bar, stick, or rod.
- (noun) Soap that has not yet been colored or scented.
- (noun) On a lathe or drill, the fixed headstock that holds the turning spindle.
- (noun) On a lathe, the sliding tailstock that supports the far end of the work.
- (noun) One of the poles a skier holds for balance and pushing off.
- (noun) The crossbar of an anchor, set at a right angle to its flukes.
- (noun) The upright shaft fixed to a vessel's rudder that turns it when the wheel or tiller moves.
- (noun) A large upright, pipe-shaped body of ore within the surrounding rock.
- (noun) A black bib or panel that clergy wear beneath their collar to cover the shirt front.
- (noun) Somewhere for a baby to sleep, such as a cot or rocking cradle.
- (noun) A block of wood made by fairies to look like a baby and left in place of a stolen human child.
- (noun) A stocking or other garment covering the leg.
- (noun) A wooden block, stump, post or pillar, or anything else solid and firmly fixed.
- (noun) A dull, senseless person, as unfeeling as a block of wood.
- (noun) The larger of the two halves of a notched wooden tally, given by the old English Exchequer to a lender to the Crown as proof of the debt.
- (noun) Good-quality bricks in red or gray, laid on the outer faces of buildings.
- (noun) In Ernst Haeckel's theory of organic form, a group of linked organisms living as one unit, for example a tree or a chain of salps.
- (noun) The heavy hammer in a fulling mill that pounds the cloth.
- (verb) To leave cows unmilked for a day or more before selling them, so their udders look full.
- (verb) To give an anchor its crossbar, or to secure that bar tightly.
- (verb) To set up the order of cards in a deck secretly so as to cheat.
- (noun) A stab or thrust with the point of a rapier.

## Origin

From Middle English "stok," from Old English "stocc," going back to Proto-Germanic "*stukkaz" ("tree-trunk"). Most modern senses relate either to the trunk a tree grows from (figuratively an origin or foundation) or to a piece of wood, stick, or rod. The "supply" and "raw material" senses probably arose from a conflation with "steck" ("an item of goods, merchandise") or from split tally sticks used to record paid taxes, debts, or exchanges. It is a doublet of "chock."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stock (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).