Word.ws English Dictionary

stock

UK/stɒk//stɑk/

stock noun: a store or supply. Also the ellipsis of film stock.

Noun (1)

stock (countable and uncountable, plural stocks or (obsolete) stocken)

  1. A store or supply.
    1. (operations) A store of goods ready for sale; inventory.
      • We have a stock of televisions on hand.
      • I checked in the back of the stockroom and found some more stock.
    2. A supply of anything, stored until used; especially, such a supply that is ready for use.
      • Lay in a stock of wood for the winter season.
    3. Railroad rolling stock.
      • The Grand Trunk Railway had just purchased a large order of stock from the American Car and Foundry Company.
    4. A stack of undealt cards made available to the players.
    5. Farm or ranch animals; livestock.
      • Good ranchers must continually keep watch over the health of their stock.
      • […] the open land is generally covered by a grass which grows in tussacs, and produces tufts of hard, crisp, pointed blades. Stock will never willingly eat this grass; […]1881, William Rowntrie Robertson, Reports on the Agricultural Conditions, Capabilities, and Prospects Of The Neilgherry And Coimbatore Districts, page 33
    6. The population of a given type of animal (especially fish) available to be captured from the wild for economic use.
      • The stocks of this fishery are recovering from overfishing, but the gains can easily reverse if our husbandry efforts lapse.
  2. The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares; the total of shares held by an individual shareholder.
    • His grandpa had bought some stock in General Electric in 1905, and he refused to sell it ever after.
    1. The price or value of the stock of a company on the stock market.
      • When the bad news came out, the company's stock dropped precipitously.
    2. (US, especially) A share in a company.
    3. (figuratively) The measure of how highly a person or institution is valued.
      • After that last screw-up of mine, my stock is pretty low around here.
      • With his stock rising fast in the party, the governor has conspicuously refrained from saying he would stand aside if Mr. Trump runs for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.2022 January 17, Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman, “Who Is King of Florida? Tensions Rise Between Trump and a Former Acolyte.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    4. Any of several types of security that are similar to a stock, or marketed like one.
  3. Broth made from meat (originally bones) or vegetables, used as a basis for stew or soup.
    • They make beef stock from the butchery scraps that they otherwise might not have used.
  4. The type of paper used in printing.
    • The books were printed on a heavier stock this year.
    Synonyms:
    card stock
  5. Plain soap before it is coloured and perfumed.
  6. Stock theater, summer stock theater.
  7. The trunk and woody main stems or limbs of a tree; the base from which something grows or branches.
    • Though the roote thereof waxe old in the earth, and the stocke thereof die in the ground: Yet through the sent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughes like a plant.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 14:8–9
    1. The plant upon which the scion is grafted.
      • The cion overruleth the stock quite.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...
    2. (broadly) Lineage; family; ancestry.
      • UUhat, ſhall I call thee brother? No, a foe,
        Monſter of Nature, ſhame vnto thy ſtocke,
        That darſt preſume thy Soueraigne for to mocke.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
      • His hatred is not based upon whom these people are (like many rightwing Republicans, Gallo comes from immigrant stock), but how easily these people have come by success in America.2003 November 14, Jacques Peretti, “You are a bad man trying to do bad things to Vincent”, in The Guardian
    3. (broadly) A larger grouping of language families: a superfamily or macrofamily.
  8. Any of the several species of cruciferous flowers in the genus Matthiola.
  9. The part of a rifle or shotgun that rests against the shooter's shoulder.
    • The most underrated component in building a custom gun is the metalsmithing. Stock work immediately attracts attention. Fancy checkering patterns, meticulously executed, are sure to elicit oohs and ahhs.2013, Tom Turpin, Modern Custom Guns: Walnut, Steel, and Uncommon Artistry, 2nd edition, Iola, Wis.: Gun Digest Books, →ISBN, page 47
  10. The handle of a whip, fishing rod, etc.
  11. The headstock of a lathe, drill, etc.
  12. The tailstock of a lathe.
Show 16 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A ski pole.
  2. A bar going through an anchor, perpendicular to the flukes.
    • The honest, rough piece of iron, so simple in appearance, has more parts than the human body has limbs: the ring, the stock, the crown, the flukes, the palms, the shank. All this, according to the journalist, is “cast” when a ship arriving at an anchorage is brought up.1904–1906, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in The Mirror of the Sea, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published October 1906, →OCLC
  3. The axle attached to the rudder, which transfers the movement of the helm to the rudder.
  4. A pipe (vertical cylinder of ore)
  5. A necktie or cravat, particularly a wide necktie popular in the eighteenth century, often seen today as a part of formal wear for horse riding competitions.
    • He wore a brown tweed suit and a white stock. His clothes hung loosely about him as though they had been made for a much larger man. He looked like a respectable farmer of the middle of the nineteenth century.1915, W. Somerset Maugham, “chapter 116”, in Of Human Bondage
    • His grey waistcoat sported pearl buttons, and he wore a stock which set off to admiration a lean and aquiline face which was almost as grey as the rest of him.1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), page 417
    Synonyms:
    stock-tie
  6. A piece of black cloth worn under a clerical collar.
  7. A bed for infants; a crib, cot, or cradle
  8. A piece of wood magically made to be just like a real baby and substituted for it by magical beings.
  9. (obsolete) A cover for the legs; a stocking.
  10. A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post.
    • When all our Fathers worſhip't Stocks and Stones,1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] XV. On the late Massacher in Piemont.”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 58
    • Item, for a stock of brass for the holy water, seven shillings; which, by the canon, must be of marble or metal, and in no case of brick.1655, Thomas Fuller, The History of Waltham Abbey
  11. (broadly, obsolete) A person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense.
    • Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  12. (UK, historical) The longest part of a split tally stick formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness.
  13. (in plural) The frame or timbers on which a ship rests during construction.
  14. (UK, in plural) Red and grey bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.
  15. In tectology, an aggregate or colony of individuals, such as trees, chains of salpae, etc.
  16. The beater of a fulling mill.
    • […]a somewhat rude machine called the stocks, and consisting of a pair of wooden mallets, worked alternately by a cog wheel.1842, Jam Bischoff, A Comprehensive History of the Woollen and Worsted Manufactures

Verb

stock (third-person singular simple present stocks, present participle stocking, simple past and past participle stocked)

  1. To have on hand for sale.
    • The store stocks all kinds of dried vegetables.
    • ...he would not stock any product on his shelves from any company that hired a communist or, as it was called at the time, a comsymp.2005, William Froug, How I Escaped from Gilligan's Island
  2. To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to supply.
    • to stock a warehouse with goods
    • to stock a farm, i.e. to supply it with cattle and tools
  3. To allow (cows) to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more prior to sale.
  4. To put in the stocks as punishment.
    • Poor Tom, that[…]eats cow-dung for sallets; swallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog; drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipp'd from tything to tything, and stock'd, punish'd, and imprison'dc. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  5. To fit (an anchor) with a stock, or to fasten the stock firmly in place.
  6. (dated) To arrange cards in a certain manner for cheating purposes; to stack the deck.

Adjective

stock (not comparable)

  1. Of a type normally available for purchase/in stock.
    • stock items
    • stock sizes
  2. Having the same configuration as cars sold to the non-racing public, or having been modified from such a car.
  3. Straightforward, ordinary, just another, very basic.
    • He gave me a stock answer.

Noun (2)

stock (plural stocks)

  1. A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado.

Proper noun capitalized: Stock

Stock (countable and uncountable, plural Stocks)

  1. A village and civil parish in Chelmsford district, Essex, England, United Kingdom (OS grid ref TQ6998).
  2. A surname.
    • Speaking on the John Solomon Reports podcast this week, conservative activist and RiftTV contributor Sarah Stock attributed some of the divide to a generational split in how conservatives consume information.2025 July 3, Ben Whedon, “Reshaping the right: A generational divide heralds a transformation of the GOP”, in Just the News, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025
  3. (diminutive) Diminutive of Stockton (“personal name”).

Also used as

stock is also the ellipsis of film stock.

stock meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

stock in Hindi

finance: capital raised by a company
स्टाक sṭāk, स्टॉक sṭŏk

stock in Tamil

farm animals
தொகை tokai
finance: capital raised by a company
தொகை tokai
supply of anything ready for use
தொகை tokai

stock in Marathi

साठा, स्टॉक

stock in Urdu

اسٹاک, سٹاک
More languagesFewer languages
stock in Bengali
স্টক
stock in Telugu
స్టాక్
stock in Malayalam
സ്റ്റോക്ക്
stock in Kannada
ಸ್ಟಾಕ್, ದಾಸ್ತಾನು, ಸ್ಟಾಕು
stock in Punjabi
ਸਟਾਕ
stock in Gujarati
સ્ટોક
stock in Odia
ଷ୍ଟକ୍, ଷ୍ଟକ
stock in Nepali
स्टक, स्टाक
stock in Tagalog
mulanan, sapi
stock in Arabic
سَهْم sahm, جَرْد jard, خَزِين ḵazīn, مَخْزُون maḵzūn
stock in Malay
saham
stock in Indonesian
saham
stock in Persian
شببوی šab-bôy, چلیپای čalîpâ'î, قنداق qondâq
stock in Thai
สต็อก sà-dtɔ́k
stock in Vietnamese
cổ phiếu, báng

Examples of stock in a sentence

  • to stock land, i.e. to occupy it with a permanent growth, especially of grass
  • We may also conclude that as it was the Ionic γένη of the Attic tetrapolis who in the main achieved the Ionization of Athens, so it was a branch of this same stock that settled at Delos […]2010, Lewis Richard Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, page 108:
  • These can be reached by leaning out of the window rather perilously, to unhook them, and paper cups are stocked in the compartments.1951 February, K. Westcott Jones, “Some Australian Railway Byways”, in Railway Magazine, page 118:

All 40 example sentences with stock

Synonyms of stock

All synonyms of stock

Forms of stock

Noun
pluralstocks
plural (obsolete)stocken
Verb
third-person singular presentstocks
present participlestocking
past participlestocked
paststocked
Proper noun
pluralStocks

Past tense of stock: stocked

Plural of stock: stocks

Origin of stock

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.

From Italian stoccata.

* As an English surname, from the noun stock (“stock, tree stump”). This sense is also found respectively in Dutch and German, and Slavic borrowings of them. Compare Stocker. * Also as an English surname, variant of Stoker. * (Stockton): Clipping of Stockton.

Words formed from stock

Phrases with stock

134 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with stock

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stock

What does stock mean?
Stock means a store or supply.
What is stock in Hindi?
Stock in Hindi is स्टाक (sṭāk), स्टॉक (sṭŏk). See Stock meaning in Hindi.
How do you use stock in a sentence?
to stock land, i.e. to occupy it with a permanent growth, especially of grass
What part of speech is stock?
Stock can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce stock?
Stock is pronounced /stɒk/ (UK).
What is the plural of stock?
The plural of stock is stocks.

Words near stock in the dictionary

  1. stochastizations
  2. stochiometric
  3. stochiometry
  4. stocious
  5. stocius
  6. stock
  7. stock account
  8. stock accounts
  9. stock and trade
  10. stock animal
  11. stock animals

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stock (page history and authors); Stock (page history and authors); stock (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stock (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-stock.ogg.

Cite this entry: “stock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.