stock

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The supply of goods that a shop or business has available to sell.

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

2. 2
   noun

   A liquid made by simmering meat, bones, or vegetables, used as a base for soups and sauces.

   Add a cup of chicken stock to the sauce.

3. 3
   adj

   Commonly kept and used; standard.

   Butter is a stock item to have in your kitchen.

4. 4
   noun

   Animals such as cattle or sheep kept on a farm.

   The stock was out grazing in the fields.

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.

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