stock still, ˈstock-ˈstill, a.
[See stock n.1 59 and cf. Du. stokstil, G. stockstill.]
As still as a stock or log; quite motionless. Usually to stand stock still; rarely with other vbs. or attrib.
| c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 108 In stede quhare he lay, Stok still as ane stane. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 81, I holde him not for a good beast, that when they lade him, will stand stock stil, and when they vnlade him will yerke out behinde. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. ii. 230 Like Mules, who if th' have not their will To keep their own pace, stand stock still. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 407 ¶1 Our Preachers stand stock-still in the Pulpit. 1782 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes to R.A.'s ix, A brother ensign spies the stock-still lad. 1841 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxiii, The clock—which was very near run down, and would have stood stock-still in half an hour. 1905 R. Broughton Waif's Progr. xviii. 200 A horrible suspicion..stopped the observer's feet stock still. |