Stock

The stem, or main body, of a tree or plant; the fixed, strong, firm part; the trunk.

The stem or branch in which a graft is inserted.

A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post.

Hence, a person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense.

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

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.

The handle or contrivance by which bits are held in boring; a bitstock; a brace.

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.

The wooden or iron crosspiece to which the shank of an anchor is attached. See Illust. of Anchor.

The support of the block in which an anvil is fixed, or of the anvil itself.

A handle or wrench forming a holder for the dies for cutting screws; a diestock.

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.

The original progenitor; also, the race or line of a family; the progenitor of a family and his direct descendants; lineage; family.

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.

Same as Stock account, below.

Supply provided; store; accumulation; especially, a merchant's or manufacturer's store of goods; as, to lay in a stock of provisions.

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

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.

A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado.

A covering for the leg, or leg and foot; as, upper stocks (breeches); nether stocks (stockings).

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

A frame of timber, with holes in which the feet, or the feet and hands, of criminals were formerly confined by way of punishment.

The frame or timbers on which a ship rests while building.

Red and gray bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.

Any cruciferous plant of the genus Matthiola; as, common stock (Matthiola incana) (see Gilly-flower); ten-weeks stock (M. annua).

An irregular metalliferous mass filling a large cavity in a rock formation, as a stock of lead ore deposited in limestone.

A race or variety in a species.

In tectology, an aggregate or colony of persons (see Person), as trees, chains of salpae, etc.

The beater of a fulling mill.

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.

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

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.

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

To put in the stocks.

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.