stock

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   regularly and widely used or sold

   Butter is a stock thing to have in your kitchen.

2. 2
   noun

   any animals kept for use or profit

   The stock was out eating grass in the fields.

3. 3
   noun

   an ornamental white cravat, often worn in horse dancing

   In the period film, several of the male actors wore stocks.

4. 4
   noun

   the merchandise that a shop has on hand

   The stock at the grocery was running low after the hurricane.

5. 5
   noun

   the handle end of some implements or tools

   I grabbed the cue by the stock.

6. 6
   noun

   the handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun

   The rifle had been fitted with a special stock.

7. 7
   noun

   lumber used in the construction of something

   They will cut round stock to 1-inch diameter.

8. 8
   noun

   liquid in which meat and vegetables are simmered

   We left the mushrooms in hot water over night and made a delicious stock.

Etymology

From Middle English stok, from Old English stocc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“tree-trunk”). Modern senses are mostly referring either to the trunk from which the tree grows (figuratively, its origin and/or support/foundation), or to a piece of wood, stick, or rod. The senses of "supply" and "raw material" arose from a probable conflation with steck (“an item of goods, merchandise”) or the use of split tally sticks consisting of foil or counterfoil and stock to capture paid taxes, debts or exchanges. Doublet of chock.