Stocks

a contrivance for the confinement of vagrants, drunkards, and other petty offenders. It consisted of two or more horizontal timbers resting in a frame. The cracks were enlarged at intervals into holes suitable to confine the ankles or wrists. In use, the upper timber was raised, the offender was caused to assume a sitting position, his legs or arms, and sometimes both, were placed in these holes and the timber was fastened down in place. The stocks were common in Europe and even in England until a late date. Imprisonment in the stocks was a usual form of punishment in New England. Cases of placing a man in the stocks for failing to attend church were not uncommon. The antiquarians of Salem, Boston, and other New England towns still point out the place where the stocks used to stand. Imprisonment in this manner was degrading rather than painful.

See Pillory