stocky, a.
(ˈstɒkɪ)
[f. stock n.1 + -y.]
† 1. Made of a stock, made of wood. Obs. rare—1.
Misprinted stokly in Min. P. Vernon MS. (E.E.T.S.).
| a 1400 Disp. Mary & Cross 518 in Leg. Rood, On a stokky stede [i.e. the Cross] He Rod we Rede. |
2. Of a plant: Of stout and sturdy growth; not ‘drawn up’, ‘weedy’, or spindling.
| 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxvii. 303 Those scattered trees..send from their stocky bough, A soft and sappy Gum. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 20 The plants so taken out must be planted on another compartment at the same distance, and they will come to full stocky hearts in April and May. 1883 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden ii. 109 Vigorous stocky shoots from the buried joints of the plant. 1898 F. W. Card Bush Fruits 360 It is generally believed that stockier and better plants are obtained from cuttings. |
b. Of a root: Woody, as distinguished from fibrous.
| 1915 Times 25 Sept. 9/5 Take up some of the outer runners with good fibrous roots and replant them carefully at once. Old plants with stocky roots will not move well. |
3. Of a person, animal, etc.: Of stout and sturdy build; short and thick-set.
| 1676 Poor Robin's Intell. 23–30 May 1/1 A well-set Fellow of very good natural parts, having a broad back, and a stocky leg, [etc.]. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4917/4 Lost.., a stockey bright bay Gelding. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 433 ¶6 They had no Titles of Honour among them, but such as denoted some Bodily Strength or Perfection, as such an one the Tall, such an one the Stocky. 1725 Brice's Weekly Jrnl. 5 Nov. 4 He is a fair stocky Fellow. 1826 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 174 A particular race of sheep, called the Cotswold breed... They are short and stocky. 1864 Daily Tel. 13 Aug., Well-built stocky horses, for artillery and other military work. 1888 Harper's Mag. Apr. 783 Sturdy and stocky as a Jersey bull. 1900 W. R. Moody Life D. L. Moody vii. 69 A young man..short and stocky in figure. |
| Comb. 1905 Gunter Conscience of a King vi. 90 A rather thickset stocky built woman. |
b. fig. of a quality.
| 1882 H. E. Scudder Noah Webster i. 3 His square, upright tombstone..commemorates the stocky virtues of integrity and piety. |
4. dial. ? Not amenable to control, intractable; full of spirits, boisterous.
| 1836 W. D. Cooper Sussex Gloss., Stockey, irritable, head⁓strong, and contrary, combined. 1856 Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life I. 86 Little Dickey, a boisterous boy of five..was squatting quiet as a mouse at her knee... He was a boy whom Mrs. Hackit, in a severe mood, had pronounced ‘stocky’..; but seeing him thus subdued into goodness, she smiled at him. 1866 Mrs. H. Wood Elster's Folly II. xiii. 323 Afore that drownding of his Lordship last year, Davy was the boldest and stockiest rip going. |
5. Of manner, etc.: Stiff, severe.
| 1876 J. E. Hopkins Rose Turquand ii, ‘Good morning, Rose’, said Mrs. Adair, in her stockiest tones, touching it with two frosty fingers. |
Hence
ˈstockily adv.,
ˈstockiness.
| 1890 Christian World Pulpit XXXVIII. 359/1 The stockiness and sturdiness of coming generations. 1892 Harper's Mag. LXXXIV. 530/1 A pair of stockily built horses. |