stocks

Everyday

1. Stocks are supplies of goods kept ready to use or sell: «stocks of food». tree →
2. Stocks are shares in a company that people buy so they own a small part of it. tree →
3. The stocks were a wooden frame with holes for the feet (and sometimes hands) used long ago to punish people in public. tree →
4. «Stocks» is also the he/she form of the verb «stock»: «the shop stocks toys» means it keeps toys to sell. tree →
5. Stocks are also a garden flower with sweet-smelling blooms in many colours. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life a shop «stocks» items and «stocks run low» when things sell out; at home we keep «stocks» of food for an emergency. In history lessons, villagers in the Middle Ages were put «in the stocks» and people threw rotten food at them. In money lessons, «stocks and shares» are a way adults invest. Phrases: «in stock», «out of stock», «stocks are running low», «the stock market».

Examples

• Stocks of food were running low after the storm. tree →
• The shop stocks toys and games. tree →
• The thief was put in the stocks in the village square. tree →
• My aunt buys stocks in big companies. tree →
• We keep stocks of water and batteries for emergencies. tree →
• Stocks of fish in the sea have fallen. tree →
• Sorry, those trainers are out of stock. tree →
• Beautiful stocks and carnations followed, bowing to every one present. tree →

Note

Singular «stock» also means soup liquid (chicken stock) and livestock (farm animals). Maths: if the stock is 50 and 18 are sold, 50 − 18 = 32 are left. Stocks can go up or down in value.

In Jewish tradition

Stocks were a wooden frame that held a prisoner's feet. In Jeremiah, "stocks" can also mean wooden idols.

Interpretation. Jeremiah's time in the stocks is read as the price a prophet paid for speaking truth. Worshipping "stones and stocks" is read as the sin of idolatry, which the prophets compare to adultery.

Examples

• He putteth my feet in the stocks, He marketh all my paths.' (Writings JOB.33.11, JPS 1917) tree →
• And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. (Prophets JER.20.3, JPS 1917) tree →
• and it came to pass through the lightness of her harlotry, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks; (Prophets JER.3.9, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Singular «stock» also means soup liquid (chicken stock) and livestock (farm animals). Maths: if the stock is 50 and 18 are sold, 50 − 18 = 32 are left. Stocks can go up or down in value.