stock in trade

American  

Or stock-in-trade

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.

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stock in trade British  

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

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Etymology

Origin of stock in trade

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

“Mellifluous melancholy is the English horn’s main orchestral stock in trade,” John Henken wrote in The Los Angeles Times in 1988, reviewing a recital at Trinity Lutheran Church in Reseda, Calif., where Mr. Stacy played the other two instruments as well, “but Stacy demonstrated a much wider range of expression and sound. He could make the horn sing with almost human suavity, or stutter with martial brilliance, all supported by the booming acoustic of the Trinity sanctuary.”

From New York Times

Eventually his stock in trade became his forgeries, which helped hundreds of his fellow Jews escape Germany.

From Los Angeles Times

Haaland has provided a stunning cutting edge to this City side, making them even more intense and direct on top of the head-spinning passing carousel that is Guardiola's stock in trade and left Arsenal so helpless here.

From BBC

Mr. Lorayne did not claim to have invented the mnemonic system that was his stock in trade: As he readily acknowledged, it harked back to classical antiquity.

From New York Times

“And yet, that was her stock in trade,” Ayres said.

From Washington Post