stock in trade

or stock-in-trade

See synonyms for stock in trade on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the requisites for carrying on a business, especially goods kept on hand for sale in a store.

  2. resources or abilities peculiar to an individual or group or employed for a specific purpose: A feeling for language should be part of the stock in trade of any writer.

Origin of stock in trade

1
First recorded in 1660–70

Words Nearby stock in trade

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use stock in trade in a sentence

  • In discussing literature, they spoke of the perennial stock-in-trade of the republic of letters—woman's sin.

    Honorine | Honore de Balzac
  • This Combination Show—old stock-in-trade of one company, and cast-offs from another—ain't the best o' bisness arter all.

  • Nowadays to sally forth with their stock-in-trade on their backs or in a cart is no longer the practice of the workers.

    Tyrol and its People | Clive Holland
  • Thus the principal part of Parrys stock-in-trade—his rockets, incendiary kites, and improved Grecian fires—were not forthcoming.

    Byron | Richard Edgcumbe
  • Their "plant," it is true, is not large; a few coloured chalks and a soft duster form all their necessary stock-in-trade.

British Dictionary definitions for stock in trade

stock in trade

noun
  1. goods in stock necessary for carrying on a business

  2. anything constantly used by someone as a part of his profession, occupation, or trade: friendliness is the salesman's stock in trade

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012