Stock-in-trade
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Merchandise and other necessary supplies kept on hand in order to conduct business. uncountable, usually
"The stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, sextants, quadrants, and specimens of every kind of instrument used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discoveries."
- 2 any equipment constantly used as part of a profession or occupation wordnet
- 3 A technique, skill or ability habitually used by a person, group of persons, or an organization, often in the course of their business. uncountable, usually
"Ideas are the chief stock-in-trade of newspaper writers and generally they are the scarcest stock in market, but they do come occasionally"
Example
More examples"The stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, sextants, quadrants, and specimens of every kind of instrument used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discoveries."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.