stocking

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstɑkɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstɒkɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɒkɪŋ
• Homophone: stalking (with cot-caught merger)

From stock (“cover with material”) +‎ -ing. Corruption of old plural -en, i.e. stocken, now singular.

A pair of nylon stockings.

stocking (plural stockings)

1. A soft garment, usually knit or woven, worn on the foot and lower leg under shoes or other footwear.

   a pair of stockings

2. A large, sock-like bag used to store small Christmas gifts, typically hung on a mantelpiece.
3. A broad ring of a different fur colour on the lower part of the leg of a quadruped.
4. A knitted hood of cotton thread which is eventually converted by a special process into an incandescent mantle for gas lighting.

• Stocking may refer either to men's socks or to women's hose, but rarely to socks when worn by women. However, this usage appears somewhat variable.

• → Scottish Gaelic: stocainn

• hose
• netherstock
• pantyhose
• sock

From stock +‎ -ing.

stocking

1. present participle and gerund of stock

   I've almost finished stocking these groceries.

stocking

1. (forestry) A ratio of the actual density of trees in an area to the ideal density that would make the fullest use of the land.

• “stocking”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• gnostick, tockings