Stock card - Stow head

Stock card

A large WOOL CARD, fastened to a stock or support. It would seem that stock carding may have been a quicker and therefore a cheaper process than using hand-held WOOL CARDs [Diaries (Lindfield)].

OED earliest date of use: 1562

Found describing BOARD
Found marketed by the PAIR Found rated by the DOZEN

Sources: Acts, Diaries, Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period), Inventories (late), Rates.

Stock head

The only example in the Dictionary Archive suggests that the stock head was part of the equipment used in making ROPE [Inventories (1671)]. In his description of the ropers wheel on which the roper spins the HEMP into a suitable yarn, Randle Holme positions the 'Head of the Stocks, where the Spindle runs' [Holme (2000)]. Why a rope maker should have a dozen and more is not clear. It may be a part of the equipment called by Holme by another name. In other contexts the term could probably have completely different meanings.

Not found in the OED

Found in units of DOZEN

Sources: Inventories (mid-period).
References: Holme (2000).

Stoechas

An alternative name for STECHADOS, now retained in its botanic name Lavandula stoechas

OED earliest date of use: 1548

Found described as arabia
Found rated by the POUND

Sources: Rates.

Stomach water

[stomake water; stomacke wat'r; stomacke water]

The very name indicates that it was a water intended to benefit the stomach or digestion. It was included in Randle Holme's list of 'Drinks' that were in the province of the 'compounder of Liquors' [Holme (2000)]. Martha Bradley included a recipe in her British Housewife, in which the main ingredients were ANGELICA leaves and BRANDY with some spices [Bradley (1756 facs.1996-8)], and in this form it warrants inclusion amongst the COMPOUND WATERS.

Not found in the OED

Found in units of QUART

See also SURFEIT WATER.
Sources: Diaries, Inventories (mid-period).
References: Bradley (1756, facs. 1996-8), Holme (2000).

Stomachic lozenges

[stomach do]

A QUACK MEDICINE designed to 'prevent the ill Effects of hard drinking, especially of bad Wine ' [Newspapers (1760)]. They were probably similar to ANTACID LOZENGES, for which much the same claims were made. Proprietary versions were common, including those made by Edmund Swinfen [Tradecards (1797)], and Thomas GREENOUGH [Tradecards (1790s)].

Not found in the OED online

Found in units of BOX

See also LOZENGE.
Sources: Newspapers, Tradecards.

Stone blue

[stone-blue; stone blewe; stone blew; stone bleu; stone and powder blue; stone & powder blue; stone & powder blew; ston blew]

A compound of ground INDIGO with STARCH or WHITING used in laundry work [Patents (1675)]. [Acts (1768)] required makers of stone blue to be registered in the same way as starch makers to avoid the manufacture and use of imitations and other inferior, starch-like products. Stone blue was also used in CONFECTIONERY to colour PASTE made from SUGAR variously shaped for banquets etc. Prices noted are comparable with those for POWDER BLUE, which range from 8d to 2s LB, against valuations from 7d to 18d. The size of the stone seems to have affected its value, the LARGE being worth more than the SMALL, for example [Inventories (1694)].

OED earliest date of use: 1675

Found described as B's, COMMON, FINE, LARGE, SMALL Found in units of BOX, C, LB, OUNCE, QUARTER

See also FLAT BLUE, FIG BLUE, FLAT INDIGO.
Sources: Acts, Diaries, Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period), Inventories (late), Newspapers, Patents, Recipes, Tradecards.

Stone brimstone

[sto'n brims]

This term is not in the OED or the dictionaries, nor has it been noted in historic books on Chemistry, yet it is quite common in the Dictionary Archive in eighteenth-century shops. It was sometimes listed along with FLOWERS OF BRIMSTONE as in 'fflower and stone Brimstone' [Inventories (1746)], and 'Stone brimstone, powder Do' [Inventories (1729)]. In which case it may have been a synonym for ROLL BRIMSTONE, which was also found together with the flowers. Another possibility is a crude form of sulphur, perhaps a synonym of CLOD BRIMSTONE. Contexts suggest it was not the same as STONE SULPHUR.

Not found in the OED online

Found in units of C, LB, POUND, QUARTER

Sources: Inventories (late).

Stone nail

[stone nayle]

According to Randle Holme, it is an alternative name for the LATH NAIL [Holme (2000)].

OED earliest date of use: 1469-70 under Stone

Found in units of HUNDRED, THOUSAND

Sources: Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period).
References: Holme (2000).

Stone pitch

[stone pitche; stone piche; ston pitch]

Solid PITCH

OED earliest date of use: c1450

Found in units of HUNDRED, LB, POUND, QU

Sources: Diaries, Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period).

Stone trough

[stonetrough; stone trowe; stone troughe; stone troug; stoe' troughe]

A common variant is 'Trow'. The term refers to a large TROUGH usually formed out of a single piece of STONE. This would have had the advantage of being almost impervious to attack by damp, so they were much used for storing the domestic supply of water, for watering stock and as a SWINE TROUGH, whence comes the alternative name of 'swine stone' [Inventories (1707)]. In fact, Randle Holme made the point for the use of stone troughs to feed pigs, including among the 'Swine equipment': 'A Trough, or Stone Trough, a hollow place cut in Wood or Stone, in which the Swine have their Wash-meat given them' [Holme (2000)].

Stone troughs were also used in various industrial processes. The most common was in conjunction with a GRINDSTONE as 'the stone trough and Grindle stone' [Inventories (1639)], but one has also been noted used in saw making to quench hot metal [Newspapers (1743)]. Randle Holme showed the smith's forge and trough almost as a single integrated unit, so as to allow minimal loss of heat in the transfer of a hot metal object from the one to the other [Holme (2000)].

By and large, however, the materials from which troughs were fashioned were rarely mentioned, so many of those unspecified were probably made of stone.

OED earliest date of use: 1611

Found described as LARGE, WORT

Sources: Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period), Inventories (late), Newspapers.
References: Holme (2000).

Stow head

The meaning is unknown. 'Stow' here is possibly a variant of STOVE. The only example in the Dictionary Archive appears in the probate inventory of a brazier in the form of '10 pair of Stow Heads', but the context is otherwise unhelpful [Inventories (1716)].

Not found in the OED online

Found in units of PAIR

Sources: Inventories (late).