Stock  —n. 1 store of goods etc. Ready for sale or distribution etc. 2 supply or quantity of anything for use. 3 equipment or raw material for manufacture or trade etc. (rolling-stock). 4 farm animals or equipment. 5 a capital of a business. B shares in this. 6 reputation or popularity (his stock is rising). 7 a money lent to a government at fixed interest. B right to receive such interest. 8 line of ancestry (comes of cornish stock). 9 liquid basis for soup etc. Made by stewing bones, vegetables, etc. 10 fragrant-flowered cruciferous cultivated plant. 11 plant into which a graft is inserted. 12 main trunk of a tree etc. 13 (in pl.) Hist. Timber frame with holes for the feet in which offenders were locked as a public punishment. 14 base, support, or handle for an implement or machine. 15 butt of a rifle etc. 16 (in pl.) Supports for a ship during building or repair. 17 band of cloth worn round the neck. —attrib. Adj. 1 kept in stock and so regularly available. 2 hackneyed, conventional. —v. 1 have (goods) in stock. 2 provide (a shop or a farm etc.) With goods, livestock, etc. 3 fit (a gun etc.) With a stock.  in (or out of) stock available (or not available) immediately for sale etc. Stock up (often foll. By with) provide with or get stocks or supplies (of). Take stock 1 make an inventory of one's stock. 2 (often foll. By of) review (a situation etc.). [old english]