overstock

American  

[oh-ver-stok, oh-ver-stok] / ˌoʊ vərˈstɒk, ˈoʊ vərˌstɒk /

verb (used with object)

1. to stock to excess.

   We are overstocked on this item.

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noun

1. a stock that is larger than the actual need or demand.

overstock British  

/ ˌəʊvəˈstɒk /

verb

1. to hold or supply (a commodity) in excess of requirements

2. to run more farm animals on (a piece of land) than it is capable of maintaining

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Etymology

Origin of overstock

First recorded in 1555–65; over- + stock

Example Sentences

During the early days of selling books online, he bought publisher overstock and made a nice living on eBay before Amazon put the squeeze on retail prices.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

Santee came into existence in the mid-to-late 1970s for apparel businesses to sell their overstock items on the weekends.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

At my Mariano’s, there’s a section labeled “Oops! We baked too much,” which houses overstock bread and pastries.

From Salon • Dec. 28, 2025

Several companies are building marketplaces that aggregate idle capacity — consumer GPUs, academic clusters, enterprise overstock — and resell it at a fraction of centralized data-center costs.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 3, 2025

I’d grabbed it at work, overstock they were looking to dump, and now I knew why: It was disgusting.

From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin