a former
instrument of punishment consisting of a heavy wooden
frame with holes for confining the ankles and, sometimes, the wrists of an
offender. Enough victims would have been deposited on their doorstep for them to start erecting the stocks and the whipping posts.
-Training Duplication (24 Jan. 62) former instruments of punishment consisting of heavy wooden
frames with holes for confining offenders' ankles and, sometimes, their wrists.
-Webster's New World Dictionary.