Stoccian

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To pierce or thrust a sharp, pointed object into something, as in an old English sense of driving a point through a surface
2. To jab or run through something with a pointed implement, an action recorded in early English writings
3. Describing the act of piercing a target with a sharp point, a meaning preserved in Old English texts

Etymology: Old English "stoccian" meant "to stab" or "to pierce through," and it survives in modern English only as a distant echo. Its ancestry is Germanic: it belongs to a family of words built around the idea of a stake or stick, and the same root gave Old English "stocc," a stick or post, which is still the source of "stock" in the sense of a log or trunk. The verb is a derivative of that noun, so the stabbing sense grew from the image of driving a stake or stick into something. The word is attested in Old English, and it is a native Germanic formation rather than a loan from Latin or French. Its modern descendants are very different in form. "Stock" in the sense of a tree trunk or a tool handle, and the verb "stock" meaning to supply goods, both descend from the same ancient root, which lends a surprising unity to a trader's shelf and a stabbing weapon.