stock
n. C / Un. a share of ownership in a company. When you buy a company's stock, you own a small piece of that company.
n. a security that represents a share of ownership in a corporation, entitling the owner to a proportion of the corporation's assets and profits. Uncountable when referring to ownership in general; countable when referring to a specific company's shares.
She buys stock in technology companies.
Many people invest in the stock market hoping to grow their savings over time.
The company's stock price plummeted after the CEO announced unexpectedly poor quarterly earnings, wiping out billions in shareholder value.
* As an English surname, from the noun stock (“stock, tree stump”). This sense is also found respectively in Dutch and German, and Slavic borrowings of them. Compare Stocker. * Also as an English surname, variant of Stoker. * (Stockton): Clipping of Stockton.
Often used in the plural ('stocks') to refer to a portfolio of different company shares. The phrase 'stock market' is a key collocation.