stock n OED ~ sb1 1 b obs (cl000-1806); EDD 1 for sense 1.
1 A heavy log or beam.
[1774] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 23 Four hands went up the river to cut skiff-timber and some stocks. 1792 ibid Gloss i, xv Stock of timber. A piece of timber, intended to be sawed. T 25-64 This house is 109 years old. But they put stock in houses then that they don't get to put in them today... We were making some repairs here ... and there's sticks like spars down here. I think it's good for another hundred years if it's like that.
2 See STALK [=core of an apple].
3 Comb stock chest: container in which logs are placed for pulping.
1964 BLONDAHL (ed) 38 "The Business of Makin' the Paper": Well, the 'furnish' is made, so we'd best move along / To the 'stock-chests' ahead, and I'll say in my song...
