a. [See STOCK sb.1 59 and cf. Du. stokstil, G. stockstill.] As still as a stock or log; quite motionless. Usually to stand stock still; rarely with other vbs. or attrib.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 108. In stede quhare he lay, Stok still as ane stane.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Fam. Ep. (1577), 81. I holde him not for a good beast, that when they lade him, will stand stock stil, and when they vnlade him will yerke out behinde.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. ii. 230. Like Mules, who if th’ have not their will To keep their own pace, stand stock still.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 407, ¶ 1. Our Preachers stand stock-still in the Pulpit.
1782. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Odes to R. A.’s, ix. A brother ensign spies the stock-still lad.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxxiii. The clock—which was very near run down, and would have stood stock-still in half an hour.
1905. Miss Broughton, Waif’s Progr., xviii. 200. A horrible suspicion, with the strength of almost a certainty, first stopped the observer’s feet stock still, then fevered them into a run.
