Definition

1. Noun:

   • A supply of goods or materials available for sale or use: The total amount of merchandise a business holds.
   • The capital raised by a company through issuing shares: The shares representing ownership in a corporation.
   • The animals kept on a farm; livestock: Animals bred and raised for profit.
   • The liquid produced by simmering meat, bones, or vegetables: Used as a base for soups, sauces, and gravies.
   • A person's ancestry or lineage: Family or ethnic background.
   • The handle or butt of a firearm, tool, or implement: The part held or providing support.
   • A type of plant used for grafting: The root or stem onto which a graft is attached.

2. Verb:

   • To supply or furnish with goods or livestock: To provide a store or farm with items or animals.
   • To keep a supply of goods for sale: To have items available in inventory.
   • To accumulate for future use: To amass and store a reserve.

3. Adjective:

   • Regularly available or standard: A common or typical item kept in supply.
   • Commonplace or overused: Lacking originality; trite or hackneyed.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • The store has a large stock of winter coats.
  • He invested in technology stock.
  • The farmer's stock includes cattle and sheep.
  • Add two cups of chicken stock to the soup.
  • She comes from sturdy farming stock.

• Verb:

  • We need to stock the shelves before the sale.
  • Does this supermarket stock organic produce?
  • They decided to stock up on canned food for the emergency.

• Adjective:

  • That is a stock size, available in most stores.
  • The politician gave a stock answer to the difficult question.

Advanced Usage

• "In stock": Available for immediate sale or use from current inventory.

  • I'm sorry, but that model is not in stock at the moment.

• "Out of stock": Not currently available in inventory.

  • The popular toy is out of stock until next month.

• "Take stock (of)": To carefully assess or review a situation.

  • After the project failed, the team took stock of what went wrong.

• "Stock and trade": The typical goods or activities of a business or person.

  • Persuasion and charm are a politician's stock and trade.

Variants and Related Words

• Stockist (n): A retailer that stocks goods from a particular manufacturer.
• Stockpile (n/v): A large accumulated stock of goods or materials; to accumulate such a stock.
• Stocky (adj): Having a solid, sturdy, and often short build.
• Stocktaking (n): The process of counting and valuing inventory.

Synonyms

• Noun: Inventory, supply, reserve, shares, livestock, broth, lineage, handle.
• Verb: Supply, provision, furnish, carry, store, accumulate.
• Adjective: Standard, regular, routine, commonplace, hackneyed, trite.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Stock up (on): To obtain a large supply of something.

  • We should stock up on firewood before the storm arrives.

• Stock with: To fill or supply something with items.

  • The library was stocked with new books.

Related Idioms

• Lock, stock, and barrel: Including everything; completely.

  • They sold the business, lock, stock, and barrel.

• A laughing stock: Someone or something that is ridiculed by many people.

  • His outdated ideas made him a laughing stock at the conference.

• Stock phrase: A phrase that is used very often and has become unoriginal.

  • The manager relied on stock phrases instead of giving a genuine response.

Adjective

1. regularly and widely used or sold
   • a standard size
   • a stock item
2. routine
   • a stock answer
3. repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
   • bromidic sermons
   • his remarks were trite and commonplace
   • hackneyed phrases
   • a stock answer
   • repeating threadbare jokes
   • parroting some timeworn axiom
   • the trite metaphor `hard as nails'

Verb

1. put forth and grow sprouts or shoots
   • the plant sprouted early this year
2. provide or furnish with a stock of something
   • stock the larder with meat
3. amass so as to keep for future use or sale or for a particular occasion or use
   • let's stock coffee as long as prices are low
4. supply with livestock
   • stock a farm
5. supply with fish
   • stock a lake
6. equip with a stock
   • stock a rifle
7. have on hand
   • Do you carry kerosene heaters?

Noun

1. any animals kept for use or profit
2. an ornamental white cravat
3. the handle end of some implements or tools
   • he grabbed the cue by the stock
4. lumber used in the construction of something
   • they will cut round stock to 1-inch diameter
5. any of various ornamental flowering plants of the genus Malcolmia
6. any of several Old World plants cultivated for their brightly colored flowers
7. a plant or stem onto which a graft is made; especially a plant grown specifically to provide the root part of grafted plants
8. persistent thickened stem of a herbaceous perennial plant
9. the reputation and popularity a person has
   • his stock was so high he could have been elected mayor
10. liquid in which meat and vegetables are simmered; used as a basis for e.g. soups or sauces
    • she made gravy with a base of beef stock
11. a special variety of domesticated animals within a species
    • he experimented on a particular breed of white rats
    • he created a new strain of sheep
12. the descendants of one individual
    • his entire lineage has been warriors
13. a supply of something available for future use
    • he brought back a large store of Cuban cigars
14. a certificate documenting the shareholder's ownership in the corporation
    • the value of his stocks doubled during the past year
15. 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
16. the merchandise that a shop has on hand
    • they carried a vast inventory of hardware
    • they stopped selling in exact sizes in order to reduce inventory
17. the capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity)
    • he owns a controlling share of the company's stock