Definition

1. Noun (plural):
   • A former instrument of punishment: A heavy wooden frame with holes used to publicly restrain a person's feet (and sometimes hands) as a form of punishment.
   • A frame for restraining an animal: A supporting structure used to hold an animal still while it receives medical care or is having its hooves trimmed.
   • A frame that supports a boat: A sturdy framework on which a boat or ship is built or repaired.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • In the 18th century, minor criminals were often placed in the stocks in the town square.
  • The farrier used the stocks to safely shoe the nervous horse.
  • The shipwrights built the hull of the new vessel while it was secured in the stocks.

Advanced Usage

• "to be in the stocks": To be subjected to public punishment or ridicule.
  • The corrupt official was figuratively in the stocks after the scandal was exposed.
• "to come out of the stocks": To be launched or completed (for a boat).
  • The new fishing boat will come out of the stocks next month.

Variants and Related Words

• Stock (noun): While related historically, this is a distinct word with many meanings (e.g., supply of goods, financial share, lineage). It is not a variant of the plural noun "stocks" in this context.
• Pillory (noun): A similar historical punishment device that restrained the head and hands, often used synonymously with "stocks" in a general sense.

Synonyms

• Restraining frame
• Shackles (specifically for the punishment device)
• Cradle (specifically for the boat support frame)

Related Phrases

• "Laughing stock": A person or thing ridiculed by many people. (This idiom derives from the public humiliation aspect of the punishment stocks).
  • After his failed prediction, he became the laughing stock of the entire department.

Noun

1. a former instrument of punishment consisting of a heavy timber frame with holes in which the feet (and sometimes the hands) of an offender could be locked
2. a frame for constraining an animal while it is receiving veterinary attention or while being shod
3. a frame that supports a boat while it is under construction