Black’s Law Dictionary 1st edition, page 1126:
STOCK. In mercantile law. The goods and wares of a merchant or tradesman, kept for sale and traffic.
In a larger sense. The capital of a merchant or other person, including his merchandise, money, and credits, or, in other words, the entire property employed in business. 2 Wis. 42, 56, 57.
In corporation law. A right to partake, according to the amount of the party’s subscription, of the surplus profits obtained from the use and disposal of the capital stock of the company. Ang. & A. Corp. § 557.
The capital stock of a corporation is that money or property which is put into a fund by those who by subscription therefor become members of the corporate body. 75 N.Y .216.
When the word “stock,” as used in reference to a corporation, means anything else than the capital of the company, it cannot refer to anything else than the interests ot the shareholders or individuals. Such interests are called “stock;” and the sum total of them is appropriately enough called the “stock” of a corporation. 23 N. Y. 192, 220.
The funded indebtedness of a state or government, also, is often represented by stocks, shares of which are held by its creditors at interest.
In the law of descent. The term is used, metaphorically, to denote the original progenitor of a family, or the ancestor from whom the persons in question are all descended; such descendants being called “branches”