Forms: 4–6 stok(ke, 6 stoke, 5–7 stocke, 6– stock. [f. STOCK sb.1 (Independent formations relating to various senses of the sb.) Cf. Du. stokken, G. stocken, Sw. stocka, to provide (an anchor) with a stock, to hive (bees), to provide with sticks or props; intr. to stop flowing, come to a stop. Also G. stöcken to put in the stocks, to provide with sticks.]
I. Senses relating to material senses of the sb.
† 1. trans. To set in the stocks; to punish by confining the feet (occas. the hands) in stocks; in early use, to subject to rigorous imprisonment. Obs.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 163. E pur ço ke seygnur fet coingner [glossed stokken] Soun neif en ceps pur chastier.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 121. Scho stokked [ad fet mettre en ceppes] Kyng Steuen.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 380. Rather deye I wolde,… stokked in presoun.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, I. xv. (1554), 32. To liue in prison … And to be stocked under key and locke.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 476/2. Stokkyn, or settyn in stokkys, cippo.
1451. Paston Lett., I. 190. They stokked hym and hese sone at Swafham.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. Wks. 1245/2. He neither nedeth to coller vs nor to stocke vs for any feare of scaping away.
1571. Life J. Story, in Morgan, Phoenix Brit. (1732), I. 292. Some were stocked in both Feet and Arms; some also were stocked by both their Feet and by both their Thumbs, and so did hang in the Stocks.
1641. G. Raleigh, Albania, 13. She came by a Constable stocking the Drunkard.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Yorks. (1662), 191. The Hand steals, the Feet are stocked.
1694. Penn, Rise & Progr. Quakers, v. 85. Being often Stockt, Stoned, Beaten, Whipt and Imprisoned.
† b. transf. and fig. Obs.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vi. 77. The Dragon … doth fold About his fore-legs, fetter’d in such order, That stockéd there he now can stir no further. Ibid. (c. 1618), Job Triumph., II. 333. In his Ruffe, and at his greatest height, Hee shall be stocked in full many a Strait.
¶ with allusion to STOCK sb.1 2.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., II. i. Whilst shee (poor Lasse) is stock’d up in a tree: Your brother Lorells prize!
† c. ? To fasten or confine (the tongue) as a punishment. Obs.
1568. V. Skinner, trans. Gonsalvius’ Sp. Inquisit., 51 b. Streight way the felow should be sure to haue his mouth gagged, or his toung stocked, to teach him to be quiet.
2. To fasten to or fit with a stock: esp. a. To fix (a bell) to its stock.
1483–4. in Swayne, Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896), 34. The lytell Belle that was newe stokyt.
1600–1. in Garry, Churchw. Acc. St. Mary’s, Reading (1893), 86. Item to Richard hames for stoking the Belles & hanginge them, vijs. vid.
1679. in Trans. Shropsh. Arch. Soc., Ser. III. (1908), VIII. 37. For stocking of ye Treble Bell … 6. 8.
1857. Lukis, Acc. Ch. Bells, 28. Avoid all the heavy expense at a future day of taking the bell down to be stocked afresh.
b. To fit (a gun, crossbow) with a stock.
1539. in Archæologia, XI. 436. A fowler of iron stokked and bounde with iron.
1541. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VIII. 119. Gevin to Johnne Drummond to stok ane grete culvering witht,… xviij s.
1634. W. Wood, New Eng. Prosp. (1865), 19. Our Gunnes that are stocked with English Wallnut.
1649. in W. M. Myddelton, Churk Castle Acc. (1908), 27. For stocking a crosse bow.
1747. Gentl. Mag., XVII. 101. A fine gun, which he forged, stocked, made, and completed himself.
1832. Westm. Rev., XVII. 327. Shungie the great warrior … succeeded in stocking one of his musquets in a very elegant manner.
1904. Field, 6 Feb., 209/3. There is … no other plan of efficiently stocking a ready-made gun.
c. Naut. To fix the stock upon (an anchor).
1769. Cook, Jrnl. 1st Voy. (1893), 86. The Carpenter employ’d in stocking the Anchors.
1803. T. Netherton, in Naval Chron., XV. 214. Those employed in … stocking anchors.
d. (See quot.)
1911. Webster, Stock … 3. … to secure, by or to a stock; as, two plows stocked to one frame.
e. Naut. To stock to: to haul (an anchor) into a perpendicular position by means of a stock-tackle.
1815. Falconer’s Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), To Stock-to the Anchor.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 57. It is then stocked to, and lashed, and the stock tackle is unhooked.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
† 3. a. ? To cover (the leg) with a stock or stocking. rare–1. b. To cover (hose) with some stronger material; to strengthen (stockings) with pieces of cloth sewn on. Obs.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IX. x. (1554), 201 b. Their breche enbroudred after ye guise of old, Fret with pearle, legge stocked to the kne.
1520. in Archæologia, XXV. 435. A yerd of black to stock my master’s hose.
1545–6. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VIII. 443. Ane pair of hois of his gracis stokkit witht blew velvot.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2633/4. Grey Breeches, and grey Stockings newly stock’d.
† 4. ? To make a stock of, use as a stock for grafting. Obs. rare–1.
1528. Tindale, Wicked Mammon, G viij. God … planteth them in the garden of his mercye, and stocketh them & grafteth the spiryte of Chryst in them.
5. Leather-manuf. To beat (hides) in the stocks.
1883. R. Haldane, Workshop Rec., Ser. II. 367/1. When the skins are dry, they are ‘stocked’ with oil again.
II. 6. To root up, pull up by the roots (trees, stumps, weeds, etc.); to extirpate by digging or grubbing; to fell (a tree) by digging round and cutting its roots with a mattock or similar instrument.
a. simply.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., X. 92. This tyme is to be stocked euery tre.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., XIV. 57. The painfull laborers hand shall stock the roots, to burne.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 210. Two able workmen were 5 days in stocking or felling it down.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 300. Stocking them [sc. thistles] with an Iron Paddle.
1790. W. H. Marshall, Rur. Econ. Midl., I. 102. Three methods of felling are here in use. Stocking, Axe-grubbing, and Axe-falling.
1839. Sir G. C. Lewis, Gloss. Heref., To stock,… To strike and wrench with an axe having a flat end.
1881. Leicest. Gloss., Stock, to cut off the branches from the trunk, or the long roots from the stump of a tree.
b. with up (very frequent); rarely out.
1458. Anc. Deed, A. 7587 (P.R.O.). To stokke and hewe vppe be þe Rotes alle maner of Busshes þornes and trees.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., 4 b. Demeyne woode … whereof the lorde at his pleasure may assert, stocke vp by the rootes [etc.].
1678. Bp. H. Croft, Second Call, 47. The Husbandman finding but a few Thistles and Briars in his Meadow, stocks them up.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 134. The Root … should not be sawed or cut down at bottom, but stock’d and grub’d entirely up.
1798. J. Middleton, Agric. Middlesex, 119. This tract of land … abounded with trees and bushes, which seemed to make it necessary for the cultivator to … stock out the roots.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, etc. 1194. Instead of stocking up his rattoons, holing, and planting the land anew, the planter suffers the stoles to continue in the ground.
1881. Leicest. Gloss., Stock-up, to stub up, grub up.
fig. 1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 765/1. He saith wee must stocke vp all the thorns that are in vs.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXX. iii. 381. That the occasion of discord might not possibly bee stocked up by the rootes, without [etc.].
1643. Trapp, Comm. Gen. xxvi. 10. The Apostle Paul so strives to stock up by the roots that wretched opinion.
1674. J. B[rian], Harv. Home, vii. 47. A root of bitter gall, And wormwood, never stockt up wholly.
c. transf. To pull up (stones, a fence); to break or loosen (the surface of the ground with a pick). Usually with up.
1802. W. Hutton, Life, 78. At the foot of this artificial hill stood the castle. The people of the country have stocked up the stones to the very foundation for building and the roads.
1879. T. Codrington, Macadamised Roads, 91. The practice of picking up or loosening the surface of a road with a pick, sometimes called ‘stocking.’ Ibid., 92. Picking or stocking up the surface before laying fresh materials generally costs from 1/2d. to 1d. per square yard.
1907. S. Cornish Watkins, in Gentl. Mag., July, 38. This waste land would be only gradually stocked, or grubbed up.
III. To check in growth; to stiffen.
7. To stunt, check in growth (a plant or animal). Chiefly in pa. pple. stocked (mod. dial. also stocken, stoken). Also intr., to be stunted in growth. dial.
1607. Markham, Caval., I. 88. If anye of them [sc. mares] … eyther through want of milke, or the doggednes of some vnnaturall quality, shall stocke and starue their foales.
1652. R. Robinson, Christ all & in all, xvii. (1656), 362. The husbandman useth to say of his corne in a time of long drought, that it is stocked, yet that corne when the raine comes, will shoot up.
1712. J. Morton, Nat. Hist. Northamptonsh., 385. The Corn that’s thus discolour’d, is usually stock’d, as the Husbandmen call it, that is, does not come up to the Strength and Perfection of the rest that escapes this Injury.
1848. A. B. Evans, Leicestersh. Words, 91. Stocked, stopped in growth. ‘The lambs are almost stocked by the cold weather.’
1851. [see 9].
1853. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XIV. II. 452. The most profitable mode of bringing young or store stock to market is, never to allow them to ‘stock,’ or be impeded in their growth.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Stoken, stunted in growth; impoverished in condition; said of animals that have been badly fed and attended to.
† 8. refl. ? To be stubborn, refuse obedience; to render oneself callous or incapable of feeling. Obs.
1610. J. Robinson, Justif. Separ., i. 23. We must so enioy experienced good things, as we stock not our selves in respect of other things, as yet vntryed.
1634. Canne, Necess. Separ., 107. Sound comfort flowes from sincere obedience: and therefore whosoever stocks himselfe in any the least parts of the revealed will of God, he is as Iehu, rotten at the best, even when he manifesteth most shew of Religion.
9. local. To indurate (stone) by exposure to the weather. ? Obs.
1712. J. Morton, Nat. Hist. Northamptonsh., 489. Should the [Slate] Stones lie expos’d to Sun and Wind, before the Frosts appear, it would in such manner set or stock the Vein, as the Workmen speak, that they would not cleave.
1891. Sternberg, Northampt. Dial., 106. Some kinds of stone are said to be stocked, when, by exposure to the weather, they become indurated. Wheat, also, is said to be stocked when its growth has been checked by an analogous cause.
10. intr. Sc. (See quot.)
1808. Jamieson, Stock, to become stiff, to be benumbed…. we say that one stocks, or that the limbs stock, from cold or want of exercise.
† IV. 11. pass. To have place in a stock or genealogy. Obs. rare–1.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, III. F 4. A person both of Blood and Honor, stock’t In a long race of vertuous Ancestors.
V. To supply with a ‘stock,’ fund or store.
12. trans. To supply or provide with stock or with a stock; e.g., to furnish (a farm, estate, etc.) with live or dead stock; to fill (a pond, river) with fish; to furnish (a shop) with a stock-in-trade; to store or supply with goods, commodities, appliances, etc.
1622. Fletcher, Prophetess, V. iii. He has bought the great Farm … And stock’d it like an Emperour.
1648. Hunting of Fox, 41. Your Cattell that should stocke your grounds.
1670. Covel, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.), 120. There were several sorts of fruit brought to us … with which we stock’t ourselves.
1683. [R. North], Discourse Fish & Fish-ponds, xiii. (1713), 48. The Fish where with you stock the Waters.
1707. Freind, Peterborow’s Cond. Sp., 164. Your Lordship knows how well stock’d with Mony you left us.
1727. De Foe, Eng. Tradesm. (1732), I. vi. 61. Some Tradesmen are fond of seeing their shops well stock’d, and their warehouses full of goods.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xiv. (1782), I. 504. The country was plentifully stocked with provisions.
1812. Crabbe, Tales, xxi. 180. Here, take my purse … (’Tis fairly stock’d).
1832. Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, iv. 64. Some laid out their earnings in stocking a little shop.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., iv. 85. Many of his cattle burst away from him…. He stocked himself again among the Batleti.
1857. Trollope, Barchester T., xxxix. Instead of putting his money by to stock farms for his sons.
1899. Lady M. Verney, Verney Mem., IV. 29. The cellar was stocked with Rhenish Wine.
b. in general, transferred and figurative uses.
1623. Massinger, Bondman, III. iv. Shee from the magazine of her proper goodnesse, Stock’d me with vertuous purposes.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., III. 29. With many such memorable passages, the reader may stock himself from the pens of the civil Historians.
1695. J. Edwards, Perfect. Script., 353. Here … occurs such a plenty … as is able to stock an antiquary of the first size.
a. 1701. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1732), 45. Sidon is stockt well enough with Inhabitants.
1751. Affecting Narr. of Wager, 9. The Island is thoroughly stock’d with Churches and Chapels.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxx. Those legendary heroines, with whose adventures, for want of better reading, her memory had become stocked.
1829. Cassan, Bps. Bath & Wells, 134. It looks not well, to see a Cathedral or diocese stocked with relatives and family connections.
1864. M‘Lauchlan, Scott. Ch. (1865), 416. David changed the priory into an abbey and stocked it with monks from Canterbury in 1124.
1885. Truth, 28 May, 841/1. The office is stocked with the scions of the families or the friends of Judges.
† 13. To provide with capital or funds. Obs.
1615. E. S., Britaines Busse, E 1 b. The First yeares cleare Gaine will stocke him or them so sufficiently for the use of this busse, as [etc.].
1654. H. L’Estrange, Chas. I. (1655), 123. Never King had a greater mind to the work, then King Charles, had he been stockt for it: but poverty … kept him short.
† 14. To invest (money). Also with in, out. Obs.
1683. Repr. Advantages Manuf. Woollen-cloath, 20. Each Member drawes a lot for every 100 Pound he Stocks in.
1710. in W. M. Morison, Dict. Decis. (1817), 16187. Watson … bequeathed … the sum of 5,400 marks Scots to be stocked in a responsible debtor’s hand.
1794. Cases Court Sess., 70. Although this minister is to sell the marl, he does not apply the price to his own use; it is to be stocked out for the benefit of the incumbent.
15. To lay up in store; to form a stock or supply of (a commodity). Also with up.
1700. T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., 114. Every day a Crop is gather’d, and every Night stockt up in Baskets.
1735. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Stock,… also to lay in a large Quantity of any sort of Goods, &c.
1755–73. Johnson (ed. 4), Stock … to lay up in store; as, he stocks what he cannot use.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xviii. The wine was stocked in the deep vaults of Bracquemont, by my great-grandfather.
b. esp. To keep (goods) in stock for sale.
1884. Bookseller, 1178/1. To refuse to stock the goods of the publishers who supply these cutters out.
1886. Cyclist, 6 Oct., 1324/1. It will be perfectly safe to stock a well-considered variety of this style of machine.
1888. Spectator, 21 July, 1016. (Advt.), All the … Wholesale Houses regularly Stock it.
16. absol. To provide stock; to lay in a stock or supply. Also with up.
1850. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XI. II. 613. Although my land is of very inferior quality, I stock heavily.
1876. Callis, Cutlery (Brit. Manuf. Industr.), 173. His fellow, who works for a house that does not ‘stock,’ has to collect the material from half a dozen warehouses.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Squatter’s Dream, vii. 68. I shall decide to stock up as soon as the fences are finished.
1897. Howells, Landlord at Lion’s Head, 416. She was over to Lovewell stockin’ up for Thanksgivin’.
1908. Nation, 22 Aug., 734/1. They ‘stock’ year by year: but they do so with fish reared from native spawn.
VI. Various technical and dial. senses.
17. pass. Of a female animal: To be impregnated.
1478, 1490. [see STOCKED 2].
1894. West Sussex Gaz. (advt.), Three-year-old Jersey Cow, stocked March 5th.
18. trans. To leave (a cow) unmilked in order that she may make a good show at market.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 485. Neither do our leathern Dublets stock their Cows, that is [etc.].
1798. J. Lawrence, Treat. Horse, II. 156. There is also a cruel folly prevalent among cow-jobbers, namely that of stocking the cows, as it is called.
1847. [see STOCKING vbl. sb. 4].
19. intr. Of corn, grass, etc.: To send out shoots, sprout, tiller. ? Now only Sc.
1574. R. Scot, Hop Garden (1578), 18. The Hoppe never stocketh kindelye vntyll it reache higher than the Poale.
1577. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., I. 37 b. Yf you mingle Otes with the seede of Medica, and sowe them, they wyll cause them to stocke very well.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 164. Land in good order ought to be sown thin, because the grain will stock, the straw will be strong [etc.].
1825. Jamieson.
1856. Morton, Cycl. Agric., Provincialisms, Stocking (Scot.), the tillering of grain crops in spring.
a. 1882. Scotsman (O.). About two months ago broad blanks were to be seen on many oatfields, and though they have stocked a little, the crop is yet far too thin.
20. trans. To sow (land) with grass or clover. Also with down: To lay down to grass, etc. U.S.
1828–33. Webster, Stock … to supply with seed; as, to stock land with clover or herdsgrass. American farmers.
1870. Daily News, 16 April, 6/5. In the following year it is sown to oats, and ‘stocked down’ with clover and grass seed.
1891. Century Dict., Stock … to furnish with a permanent growth, especially with grass: as, to stock a pasture.
1911. Webster, Stock down, Agric., to sow, as plowed land, with seed of grass or other permanent forage crop.
b. Of weeds: ? To overrun, choke (land) with their growth.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 187. If they are suffered to seed, they will soon stock the land.
21. To cause to be cropped or eaten by cattle; to use (land) as pasture.
1794. Vancouver, Agric. Cambridge, 188. The first year of the new grass it is stocked very hard with sheep.
1863. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XXIV. 625. There is a limit to the extent to which we can stock and crop land. Ibid., 636. The best plan was to place them upon old grass-land, which had not been stocked with sheep through the previous part of the year.
1886. W. Somerset Word-bk., s.v., It is common to let pasture ‘only to be stocked’—i. e depastured, not to be mown for hay.
1909. Nation, 18 Sept., 881/1. Fields of dry grey uneaten bennets that have been too sparsely stocked.
22. intr. Of live stock: To bear being crowded on pasture land.
1863. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XXIV. 477. The Shropshires [i.e., sheep] upon the rich and heavy land of the Vales have this peculiar merit: they will stock thickly.
23. trans. a. To put (playing cards) together in a pack. b. To arrange or shuffle fraudulently.
1735. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Stock,… in Gaming, to put the Cards together again without playing them.
1828–32. Webster, Stock … 4. To pack; to put into a pack; as, to stock cards.
1865. Slang Dict., 247. To stock cards, is to arrange cards in a certain manner for cheating purposes.
1894. [see STOCKED a. 7].
