overstocking

Etymology 1

From over- + stocking.

noun

1. A stocking intended to be worn over another stocking.
   I made a hurried attempt to change my thick fur “torbassa” and overstockings for American boots, but was surprised in the very act by the drawing up of my sledge before the house of the Russian priest, where we intended to stop until we could make arrangements for a house of our own.[…]As soon as I could disencumber my feet of my overstockings I alighted from my sledge, amid profound bows and “zdrastvuitias” from the crowd, and received a hearty welcome from the patriarchal priest. 1870, George Kennan, “Penzhina—Telegraph Poles—Arctic Temperature—Studying Astronomy—Arrival at Anadyrsk—A Priest’s Hospitality”, in Tent Life in Siberia, and Adventures among the Koraks and Other Tribes in Kamtchatka and Northern Asia, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam & Sons,[…]; London: S. Low, Son & Marston, page 281
   Michael laughed and offered fifty dollars for the sweater, the overstockings and the muffler. Just as the second sleeve was being finished and before Mrs. Andy Ned had started the overstockings or the muffler, Andy Ned went away up to the Black Hat Creek range to look for the five steers that he had turned out there the previous autumn. 1967, Bruce Hutchison, Western Windows, Toronto, Ont.: Longmans Canada Limited, page 68
   Boot hose, made of a thicker material such as linen, popular until the 1680s, were a kind of overstocking worn to protect the thinner stockings.[…]Stirrup hose worn throughout the century, were used as protection when horse riding and were similar to long overstockings without soles, but with a strap beneath to hold them down. 1977, Marion Sichel, Costume Reference 3: Jacobean, Stuart, and Restoration, page 17
   As white understockings, which may easily have been completely hidden, also occur, it is possible that the well-dressed man often wore three pairs of stockings. Roelof de Man — always a standard of elegance in Cape terms — had twelve pairs of white understockings and fourteen pairs of overstockings, including examples in green Naples silk, pearl-coloured English silk, ash-grey wool (sajet), black English silk, red serge, and white linen. While Ensign [Pieter] Evriard runs him a close second with five pairs of white understockings and thirteen pairs of overstockings in a rather similar range of colours and materials. 1982, Africana Notes and News, volume 25, page 163
   He Jeremias van Rensselaer] may have worn understockings to protect the outer pair from sweat and foot odors; in the 1650s, overstockings or ‘canons,’ which were widened and decorated at the top, better fitted the wider boots worn by men at this time. Overstockings replaced the large, colorful, and eye-catching garters (kousebanden) that had previously been very popular, and which protected the expensive stockings from the rough boot. 2003, Janny Venema, “The Van Rensselaers as commercial entrepreneurs”, in Beverwijck: A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652–1664, Hilversum: Verloren; Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, section “Place in the community; Life style”, subsection “Outer appearance: Clothing”, page 215

Etymology 2

verb

1. present participle and gerund of overstock