ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun
Etymology: Middle English stokfish, from Middle Dutch stocvisch, from stoc stick, stump, trunk of a tree + visch fish; probably from its having been dried on wooden racks; akin to Old High German fisc fish — more at stock , fish
1.
a. : fish (as cod, haddock, hake, or ling) dried hard in the open air without salt
b. : something held to resemble stockfish in being thoroughly beaten and flattened out
as dead as a stockfish — George Meredith
sat mute as a stockfish — Charles Dickens
2. also stok·vis ˈstäkˌfis
[Afrikaans stokvis, from Middle Dutch stocvisch ]
: a hake ( Merluccius capensis ) that is the basis of the leading commercial fishery of southern Africa