2. (Soap Making) A plain soap which is made into toilet soap
by adding perfumery, coloring matter, etc.
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and
the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the
scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs
like a plant. --Job xiv.
8,9.
2. The stem or branch in which a graft is inserted.
The scion overruleth the stock quite. --Bacon.
3. A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a
firm support; a post.
All our fathers worshiped stocks and stones.
--Milton.
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. --Fuller.
4. Hence, 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. --Shak.
5. The principal supporting part; the part in which others
are inserted, or to which they are attached. Specifically:
(a) The wood to which the barrel, lock, etc., of a musket
or like firearm are secured; also, a long, rectangular
piece of wood, which is an important part of several
forms of gun carriage.
(b) The handle or contrivance by which bits are held in
boring; a bitstock; a brace.
(c) (Joinery) The block of wood or metal frame which
constitutes the body of a plane, and in which the
plane iron is fitted; a plane stock.
(d) (Naut.) The wooden or iron crosspiece to which the
shank of an anchor is attached. See Illust. of
{Anchor}.
(e) The support of the block in which an anvil is fixed,
or of the anvil itself.
(f) A handle or wrench forming a holder for the dies for
cutting screws; a diestock.
(g) The part of a tally formerly struck in the exchequer,
which was delivered to the person who had lent the
king money on account, as the evidence of
indebtedness. See {Counterfoil}. [Eng.]
6. The original progenitor; also, the race or line of a
family; the progenitor of a family and his direct
descendants; lineage; family.
And stand betwixt them made, when, severally, All
told their stock. --Chapman.
Thy mother was no goddess, nor thy stock From
Dardanus. --Denham.
7. Money or capital which an individual or a firm employs in
business; fund; in the United States, the capital of a
bank or other company, in the form of transferable shares,
each of a certain amount; money funded in government
securities, called also {the public funds}; in the plural,
property consisting of shares in joint-stock companies, or
in the obligations of a government for its funded debt; --
so in the United States, but in England the latter only
are called {stocks}, and the former {shares}.
8. (Bookkeeping) Same as {Stock account}, below.
9. Supply provided; store; accumulation; especially, a
merchant's or manufacturer's store of goods; as, to lay in
a stock of provisions.
Add to that stock which justly we bestow. --Dryden.
10. (Agric.) Domestic animals or beasts collectively, used or
raised on a farm; as, a stock of cattle or of sheep,
etc.; -- called also {live stock}.
11. (Card Playing) That portion of a pack of cards not
distributed to the players at the beginning of certain
games, as gleek, etc., but which might be drawn from
afterward as occasion required; a bank.
I must buy the stock; send me good cardings.
--Beau. & Fl.
12. A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado. [Obs.]
13. [Cf. {Stocking}.] A covering for the leg, or leg and
foot; as, upper stocks (breeches); nether stocks
(stockings). [Obs.]
With a linen stock on one leg. --Shak.
14. A kind of stiff, wide band or cravat for the neck; as, a
silk stock.
15. pl. A frame of timber, with holes in which the feet, or
the feet and hands, of criminals were formerly confined
by way of punishment.
He shall rest in my stocks. --Piers
Plowman.
16. pl. (Shipbuilding) The frame or timbers on which a ship
rests while building.
17. pl. Red and gray bricks, used for the exterior of walls
and the front of buildings. [Eng.]
18. (Bot.) Any cruciferous plant of the genus {Matthiola};
as, common stock ({Matthiola incana}) (see
{Gilly-flower}); ten-weeks stock ({M. annua}).
19. (Geol.) An irregular metalliferous mass filling a large
cavity in a rock formation, as a stock of lead ore
deposited in limestone.
20. A race or variety in a species.
21. (Biol.) In tectology, an aggregate or colony of persons
(see {Person}), as trees, chains of salp[ae], etc.
22. The beater of a fulling mill. --Knight.
23. (Cookery) A liquid or jelly containing the juices and
soluble parts of meat, and certain vegetables, etc.,
extracted by cooking; -- used in making soup, gravy, etc.
{Dead stock} (Agric.), the implements of husbandry, and
produce stored up for use; -- in distinction from live
stock, or the domestic animals on the farm. See def. 10,
above.
{Head stock}. See {Headstock}.
{Paper stock}, rags and other material of which paper is
made.
{Stock account} (Bookkeeping), an account on a merchant's
ledger, one side of which shows the original capital, or
stock, and the additions thereto by accumulation or
contribution, the other side showing the amounts
withdrawn.
{Stock car}, a railway car for carrying cattle.
{Stock company} (Com.), an incorporated company the capital
of which is represented by marketable shares having a
certain equal par value.
{Stock company} (Theater), a company of actors regularly
employed at one theater, or permanently acting together in
various plays under one management.
2. To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to
supply; as, to stock a warehouse, that is, to fill it with
goods; to stock a farm, that is, to supply it with cattle
and tools; to stock land, that is, to occupy it with a
permanent growth, especially of grass.
3. To suffer to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more
previous to sale, as cows.
4. To put in the stocks. [R.] --Shak.
{To stock an anchor} (Naut.), to fit it with a stock, or to
fasten the stock firmly in place.
{To stock cards} (Card Playing), to arrange cards in a
certain manner for cheating purposes. [Cant]
{To take place}, {root}, {sides}, {stock}, etc. See under
{Place}, {Root}, {Side}, etc.
{To take the air}.
(a) (Falconry) To seek to escape by trying to rise higher
than the falcon; -- said of a bird.
(b) See under {Air}.
{To take the field}. (Mil.) See under {Field}.
{To take thought}, to be concerned or anxious; to be
solicitous. --Matt. vi. 25, 27.
{To take to heart}. See under {Heart}.
{To take to task}, to reprove; to censure.