the merchandise that a shop has on hand; "they carried a vast inventory of hardware"; "they stopped selling in exact sizes in order to reduce inventory"
the handle end of some implements or tools; "he grabbed the cue by the stock"
the handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun; "the rifle had been fitted with a special stock"
lumber used in the construction of something; "they will cut round stock to 1-inch diameter"
any of several Old World plants cultivated for their brightly colored flowers
a plant or stem onto which a graft is made; especially a plant grown specifically to provide the root part of grafted plants
persistent thickened stem of a herbaceous perennial plant
the capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity); "he owns a controlling share of the company's stock"
the reputation and popularity a person has; "his stock was so high he could have been elected mayor"
routine; "a stock answer"
have on hand; "Do you carry kerosene heaters?"
provide or furnish with a stock of something; "stock the larder with meat"
stock up on to keep for future use or sale; "let's stock coffee as long as prices are low"
be or do something to a greater degree; "her performance surpasses that of any other student I know"; "She outdoes all other athletes"; "This exceeds all my expectations"; "This car outperforms all others in its class"
performance given by a traveling company of acrobats clowns and trained animals; "the children always love to go to the circus"
a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment; "it was so funny it was a circus"; "the whole occasion had a carnival atmosphere"
a genus of haws comprising the harriers
an arena consisting of an oval or circular area enclosed by tiers of seats and usually covered by a tent; "they used the elephants to help put up the circus"
(antiquity) an open-air stadium for chariot races and gladiatorial games
a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals; "he ran away from home to join the circus"
(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
a person's social heritage: previous experience or training; "he is a lawyer with a sports background"
information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"
the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground; "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"
relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"
extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals"
understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"
old; no longer in use or valid or fashionable; "obsolete words"; "an obsolete locomotive"; "outdated equipment"; "superannuated laws"; "out-of-date ideas"
a single undivided whole; "an idea is not a unit that can be moved from one brain to another"
an organization regarded as part of a larger social group; "the coach said the offensive unit did a good job"; "after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit"
a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else; "units of nucleic acids"
an individual or group or structure or other entity regarded as a structural or functional constituent of a whole; "the reduced the number of units and installations"; "the word is a basic linguistic unit"
a raised horizontal surface; "the speaker mounted the platform"
any military structure or vehicle bearing weapons
the combination of a particular computer and a particular operating system
a document stating the aims and principles of a political party; "their candidate simply ignored the party platform"; "they won the election even though they offered no positive program"
an officer holding a commissioned rank in the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard; below lieutenant commander and above lieutenant junior grade
a particular kind of commercial enterprise; "they are outstanding in their field"
the area that is visible (as through an optical instrument)
all the competitors in a particular contest or sporting event
all of the horses in a particular horse race
(mathematics) a set of elements such that addition and multiplication are commutative and associative and multiplication is distributive over addition and there are two elements 0 and 1; "the set of all rational numbers is a field"
(computer science) a set of one or more adjacent characters comprising a unit of information
a region in which active military operations are in progress; "the army was in the field awaiting action"; "he served in the Vietnam theater for three years"
somewhere (away from a studio or office or library or laboratory) where practical work is done or data is collected; "anthropologists do much of their work in the field"
a piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed; "he planted a field of wheat"
a geographic region (land or sea) under which something valuable is found; "the diamond fields of South Africa"
the space around a radiating body within which its electromagnetic oscillations can exert force on another similar body not in contact with it
select (a team or individual player) for a game; "The Buckeyes fielded a young new quarterback for the Rose Bowl"
answer adequately or successfully; "The lawyer fielded all questions from the press"