the outstanding capital of a company or corporation.
b.
the shares of a particular company or corporation.
c.
the certificate of ownership of such stock; stock certificate.
d.
(formerly) a tally or stick used in transactions between a debtor and a creditor.
6.
Horticulture.
a.
Also called understock.in grafting, a stem in which the bud or scion is inserted.
b.
a stem, tree, or plant that furnishes slips or cuttings; stock plant.
7.
the trunk or main stem of a tree or other plant, as distinguished from roots and branches.
8.
the type from which a group of animals or plants has been derived.
9.
a race or other related group of animals or plants.
10.
the person from whom a given line of descent is derived; the original progenitor.
11.
a line of descent; a tribe, race, or ethnic group.
12.
Linguistics. a category consisting of language families that, because of resemblances in grammatical structure and vocabulary, are considered likely to be related by common origin. Compare family(def. 14), phylum(def. 2).
13.
any grouping of related languages.
14.
the handle of a whip, fishing rod, etc.
15.
Firearms.
a.
the wooden or metal piece to which the barrel and mechanism of a rifle are attached.
b.
a part of an automatic weapon, as a machine gun, similar in position or function.
16.
the trunk or stump of a tree, left standing.
17.
a dull or stupid person.
18.
something lifeless or senseless.
19.
the main upright part of anything, esp. a supporting structure.
20.
stocks,
a.
a former instrument of punishment consisting of a framework with holes for securing the ankles and, sometimes, the wrists, used to expose an offender to public derision. Compare pillory(def. 1).
b.
a frame in which a horse or other animal is secured in a standing position for shoeing or for a veterinary operation.
c.
the frame on which a boat rests while under construction.
21.
Nautical.
a.
a vertical shaft forming part of a rudder and controlling the rudder's movement.
b.
a transverse piece of wood or metal near the ring on some anchors.
22.
the metal or wooden body of a carpenter's plane.
23.
Metallurgy.
a.
material being smelted in a blast furnace.
b.
a metal piece to be forged.
24.
Printing.
a.
a specified quality or kind of paper: glossy stock; card stock; offset stock.
b.
the paper for printing a particular job: We don't have enough stock for that large a run.
Cookery. the liquor or broth prepared by boiling meat, fish, chicken, etc., with or without vegetables or seasonings, and used esp. as a foundation for soups and sauces.
28.
any of several plants belonging to the genus Matthiola, of the mustard family, esp. M. incana, having fragrant white, blue, purple, reddish, or yellowish flowers.
29.
a rhizome or rootstock.
30.
Zoology. a compound organism, as a colony of corals.
31.
a collar or a neckcloth fitting like a band around the neck.
32.
Cards. the portion of a pack of cards that, in certain games, is not dealt out to the players, but is left on the table, to be drawn from as occasion requires.
33.
an adjustable wrench for holding dies for cutting screws.
in progress or preparation: a new novel on the stocks.
59.
out of stock, lacking a supply of, esp. temporarily: We are out of stock in this item.
60.
take or put stock in, to put confidence in or attach importance to; believe; trust: Considering his general unreliability, I can't take stock in what he has told you.
61.
take stock,
a.
to make an inventory of stock on hand.
b.
to make an appraisal of resources or prospects: She took stock of her decorating scheme and decided it was time for a change.
Origin: bef. 900; (n.) ME; OE stoc(c) stump, stake, post, log; c. G Stock, ON stokkr tree-trunk; (v.) deriv. of the n.
the material of which anything is made: a hard, crystalline stuff.
2.
material to be worked upon or to be used in making something: wood, steel, and other stuff for building.
3.
material of some unspecified kind: a cushion filled with some soft stuff.
4.
Chiefly British. woven material or fabric, esp. wool.
5.
property, as personal belongings or equipment; things.
6.
something to be swallowed, as food, drink, or medicine.
7.
inward character, qualities, or capabilities: to have good stuff in one.
8.
Informal. action or talk of a particular kind: kid stuff; Cut out the rough stuff.
9.
worthless things or matter: to clean the stuff out of a closet.
10.
worthless or foolish ideas, talk, or writing: a lot of stuff and nonsense.
11.
Sports.
a.
Baseball. the assortment of pitches that a pitcher uses in a game together with the ability to deliver them in the proper manner at the right speed to the desired spot: He saved his best stuff for the tougher hitters in the lineup.
b.
spin or speed imparted to a ball, as by a baseball pitcher, a bowler, or a tennis player: a pitch with plenty of stuff.
12.
Informal. journalistic, literary, artistic, dramatic, musical, or other compositions or performances: Bach composed some splendid stuff.
13.
Informal. one's trade, skill, field, facts, etc.: She knows her stuff.
14.
Slang. any kind of drug, esp. an illicit one.
15.
Also called stock.Papermaking. refined and beaten wet pulp ready for spreading on the wire.
–verb (used with object)
16.
to fill (a receptacle), esp. by packing the contents closely together; cram full.
17.
to fill (an aperture, cavity, etc.) by forcing something into it.
18.
to fill or line with some kind of material as a padding or packing.
19.
to fill or cram (oneself, one's stomach, etc.) with food.
20.
to fill (meat, vegetables, etc.) with seasoned bread crumbs or other savory matter.
21.
to fill the preserved skin of (a dead animal) with material, retaining its natural form and appearance for display.
22.
to put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box).
23.
to thrust or cram (something) into a receptacle, cavity, or the like.
24.
to pack tightly in a confined place; crowd together.
25.
to crowd (a vehicle, room, etc.) with persons.
26.
to clutter or fill (the mind) with facts, details, etc.
27.
(in leather manufacturing) to treat (a skin, hide, etc.) with a composition of tallow and other ingredients.
28.
to stop up or plug; block or choke (usually fol. by up).
–verb (used without object)
29.
to cram oneself with food; eat gluttonously; gorge.
Origin: 1300–50; (v.) late ME stuffen to equip, furnish < OF estoffer lit., to stuff < Frankish *stopfōn,*stoppōn (see stop); (n.) ME < OF estoffe, deriv. of the v.
The total merchandise kept on hand by a merchant, commercial establishment, warehouse, or manufacturer.
All the animals kept or raised on a farm; livestock.
The capital or fund that a corporation raises through the sale of shares entitling the stockholder to dividends and to other rights of ownership, such as voting rights.
The number of shares that each stockholder possesses.
A stock certificate.
The part of a tally or record of account formerly given to a creditor.
A debt symbolized by a tally.
A plant or stem onto which a graft is made.
A plant or tree from which cuttings and slips are taken.
The original progenitor of a family line.
The descendants of a common ancestor; a family line, especially of a specified character: comes from farming stock.
Ancestry or lineage; antecedents.
The type from which a group of animals or plants has descended.
A race, family, or other related group of animals or plants.
An ethnic group or other major division of the human race.
A group of related languages.
A group of related families of languages.
A main upright part, especially a supporting structure or block.
stocksNautical The timber frame that supports a ship during construction.
A frame in which a horse or other animal is held for shoeing or for veterinary treatment. Often used in the plural.
The rear wooden, metal, or plastic handle or support of a rifle, pistol, or automatic weapon, to which the barrel and mechanism are attached.
The long supporting structure and mooring beam of field-gun carriages that trails along the ground to provide stability and support.
A theatrical stock company.
The repertoire of such a company.
A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center: a small role in summer stock.
Personal reputation or status: a teacher whose stock with the students is rising.
Confidence or credence: I put no stock in that statement.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
The trunk or main stem of a tree or another plant.
A plant or stem onto which a graft is made.
A plant or tree from which cuttings and slips are taken.
The original progenitor of a family line.
The descendants of a common ancestor; a family line, especially of a specified character: comes from farming stock.
Ancestry or lineage; antecedents.
The type from which a group of animals or plants has descended.
A race, family, or other related group of animals or plants.
An ethnic group or other major division of the human race.
A group of related languages.
A group of related families of languages.
A main upright part, especially a supporting structure or block.
stocksNautical The timber frame that supports a ship during construction.
A frame in which a horse or other animal is held for shoeing or for veterinary treatment. Often used in the plural.
The rear wooden, metal, or plastic handle or support of a rifle, pistol, or automatic weapon, to which the barrel and mechanism are attached.
The long supporting structure and mooring beam of field-gun carriages that trails along the ground to provide stability and support.
A theatrical stock company.
The repertoire of such a company.
A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center: a small role in summer stock.
Personal reputation or status: a teacher whose stock with the students is rising.
Confidence or credence: I put no stock in that statement.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
The original progenitor of a family line.
The descendants of a common ancestor; a family line, especially of a specified character: comes from farming stock.
Ancestry or lineage; antecedents.
The type from which a group of animals or plants has descended.
A race, family, or other related group of animals or plants.
An ethnic group or other major division of the human race.
A group of related languages.
A group of related families of languages.
A main upright part, especially a supporting structure or block.
stocksNautical The timber frame that supports a ship during construction.
A frame in which a horse or other animal is held for shoeing or for veterinary treatment. Often used in the plural.
The rear wooden, metal, or plastic handle or support of a rifle, pistol, or automatic weapon, to which the barrel and mechanism are attached.
The long supporting structure and mooring beam of field-gun carriages that trails along the ground to provide stability and support.
A theatrical stock company.
The repertoire of such a company.
A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center: a small role in summer stock.
Personal reputation or status: a teacher whose stock with the students is rising.
Confidence or credence: I put no stock in that statement.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
The raw material out of which something is made.
The broth in which meat, fish, bones, or vegetables are simmered for a relatively long period, used as a base in preparing soup, gravy, or sauces.
A main upright part, especially a supporting structure or block.
stocksNautical The timber frame that supports a ship during construction.
A frame in which a horse or other animal is held for shoeing or for veterinary treatment. Often used in the plural.
The rear wooden, metal, or plastic handle or support of a rifle, pistol, or automatic weapon, to which the barrel and mechanism are attached.
The long supporting structure and mooring beam of field-gun carriages that trails along the ground to provide stability and support.
A theatrical stock company.
The repertoire of such a company.
A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center: a small role in summer stock.
Personal reputation or status: a teacher whose stock with the students is rising.
Confidence or credence: I put no stock in that statement.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
stocks A device consisting of a heavy timber frame with holes for confining the ankles and sometimes the wrists, formerly used for punishment.
Nautical A crosspiece at the end of the shank of an anchor.
The wooden block from which a bell is suspended.
The rear wooden, metal, or plastic handle or support of a rifle, pistol, or automatic weapon, to which the barrel and mechanism are attached.
The long supporting structure and mooring beam of field-gun carriages that trails along the ground to provide stability and support.
A theatrical stock company.
The repertoire of such a company.
A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center: a small role in summer stock.
Personal reputation or status: a teacher whose stock with the students is rising.
Confidence or credence: I put no stock in that statement.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
A handle, such as that of a whip, a fishing rod, or various carpentry tools.
The frame of a plow, to which the share, handles, coulter, and other parts are fastened.
A theatrical stock company.
The repertoire of such a company.
A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center: a small role in summer stock.
Personal reputation or status: a teacher whose stock with the students is rising.
Confidence or credence: I put no stock in that statement.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
Botany Any of several Eurasian and Mediterranean plants of the genus Matthiola in the mustard family, especially M. incana, widely cultivated for its clusters of showy, variously colored flowers.
Games The portion of a pack of cards or of a group of dominoes that is not dealt out but is drawn from during a game.
Geology A body of intrusive igneous rock of which less than 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) is exposed.
Zoology A compound organism, such as a colony of zooids.
Personal reputation or status: a teacher whose stock with the students is rising.
Confidence or credence: I put no stock in that statement.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.
A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.
Rolling stock.
v.
stocked, stock·ing, stocks
v.
tr.
To provide or furnish with a stock of something, especially:
To supply (a shop) with merchandise.
To supply (a farm) with livestock.
To fill (a stream, for example) with fish.
To keep for future sale or use.
To provide (a rifle, for example) with a stock.
Obsolete To put (someone) in the stocks as a punishment.
v.
intr.
To gather and lay in a supply of something: stock up on canned goods.
To put forth or sprout new shoots. Used of a plant.
adj.
Kept regularly in stock: a stock item.
Repeated regularly without any thought or originality; routine: a stock answer.
Employed in dealing with or caring for stock or merchandise: a stock clerk.
Of or relating to the raising of livestock: stock farming.
Used for breeding: a stock mare.
Of or relating to a stock company or its repertoire.
Of or being a conventional character or situation that recurs in many literary or cinematic works.
Of or relating to a stock company or its repertoire.
Of or being a conventional character or situation that recurs in many literary or cinematic works.
[Middle English stok, from Old English stocc, tree trunk.] stock'age n., stock'er n.
n. a cemetery. : I'd like to be planted in a boneyard like that.
n. a junkyard. (From sense 1) : This old car's ready for the boneyard.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History
stuff (n.)
c.1330, "quilted material worn under chain mail," from O.Fr. estoffe "quilted material, furniture, provisions" (Fr. étoffe), from estoffer "to equip or stock," probably from O.H.G. stopfon "to plug, stuff," or from a related Frankish word (see stop). Sense extended to material for working with in various trades (1406), then (1580) "matter of an unspecified kind." Meaning "narcotic, dope, drug" is attested from 1929. To know (one's) stuff "have a grasp on a subject" is recorded from 1927. stuffy "poorly ventilated" is from 1831; sense of "pompous, smug" is from 1895.
stock (n.1)
O.E. stocc "stump, post, stake, tree trunk, log," also "pillory" (usually plural, stocks), from P.Gmc. *stukkaz "tree trunk" (cf. O.N. stokkr "block of wood, trunk of a tree," O.S., O.Fris. stok, M.Du. stoc "tree trunk, stump," Du. stok "stick, cane," O.H.G. stoc "tree trunk, stick," Ger. Stock "stick, cane;" also Du. stuk, Ger. Stück "piece"), from PIE *(s)teu- (see steep (adj.)). Meaning "ancestry, family" (1382) is a fig. use of the "tree trunk" sense (cf. family tree). This is also the root of the meaning "heavy part of a tool," and "part of a rifle held against the shoulder" (1541). Stock, lock, and barrel "the whole of a thing" is recorded from 1817. Meaning "framework on which a boat was constructed" (1422) led to fig. phrase on stocks "planned and commenced" (1669). Stock-still (c.1470) is lit. "as still as a tree trunk."
stock (n.2)
"supply for future use" (1428), "sum of money" (1463), M.E. developments of stock (n.1), but the ultimate sense connection is uncertain. Perhaps the notion is of the "trunk" from which gains are an outgrowth, or obs. sense of "money-box" (c.1400). Meaning "subscribed capital of a corporation" is from 1612. Stock-broker is from 1706; stock exchange is from 1773. The verb meaning "to supply (a store) with stock" is from 1622; in stock "in the possession of a trader" is from 1618. Meaning "broth made by boiling meat or vegetables" is from 1764. Theatrical use, in ref. to a company regularly acting together at a given theater, is attested from 1761. In ref. to conversation or literature, "recurring, commonplace" (e.g. stock phrase), it is attested from 1738, on notion of "kept in store for constant use." Taking stock "making an inventory" is attested from 1736. As the collective term for the movable property of a farm, it is recorded from 1519; hence livestock (1523).
A type of security that signifies ownership in a corporation and represents a claim on part of the corporation's assets and earnings.
There are two main types of stock: common and preferred. Common stock usually entitles the owner the right to vote at shareholder meetings and to receive dividends that the company has declared. Preferred stock generally does not have voting rights, but has a higher claim on assets and earnings than the common shares. For example, owners of preferred stock receive dividends before common shareholders and have priority in the event a company goes bankrupt and is liquidated.
Also known as shares, or equity.
Investopedia Commentary
A holder of stock (a shareholder) has a claim on a part of the corporation's assets and earnings. In other words, a shareholder is an owner of a company. Ownership is determined by the number of shares a person owns relative to the number of outstanding shares. For example, if a company has 1000 shares of stock outstanding, and one person owns 100 shares, that person would own and have claim to 10% of the company's assets.
Stocks are the foundation of nearly every portfolio, and they have historically outperformed most all other investments over the long run.
Any of various readily movable transportation equipment such as automobiles, locomotives, railroad cars, and trucks. Rolling stock generally makes good collateral for loans because the equipment is standardized and easily transportable among firms or locations. See also equipment trust certificate.
Main Entry: stock Function: noun 1 a: the equipment, materials, or supplies of a business b: a store or supply accumulated; especially: the inventory of the goods of a merchant or manufacturer 2: the ownership element in a corporation usually divided into shares and represented by transferable certificates; also: the certificate evidencing ownership of one or more shares of stockcapital stock 1: the stock that a corporation may issue under its charter including both common and preferred stock 2: the outstanding shares of a joint stock company considered as an aggregate 3:CAPITALIZATION 4common stock : a class of stock whose holders share in company profits (as through dividends) on a pro rata basis, may vote for directors and on important matters such as mergers, and may have limited access to information not publicly availablecumulative preferred stock : preferred stock whose holders are entitled to the payment of cumulative dividends as well as current dividends before common stockholders are paidgrowth stock : stock issued by a growth companymargin stock : stock that may be purchased in a margin accountno–par value stock : stock issued with no par value which may be carried for corporate accounting purposes as part of the capital stock or as part of the capital surplus to the extent allowed by law called also no-par stockpen·ny stock : the stock of a small company not listed on a major exchange and traditionally selling at less than a dollar a sharepreferred stock : a class of corporate stock whose holders are guaranteed payment of dividends and a share of asset distribution before the holders of common stock but are usually denied voting rightsTreasury stock : stock that is reacquired and held by the issuing company (as to increase the market value of traded shares)voting stock : stock (as common stock) entitling the holder to vote in matters of corporate governancewa·tered stock : stock issued with a par value greater than the value of the underlying assets
[stok] 
,
). (of farm animals) being a fully grown male: a stock hog.