AUCTION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Auction

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/ˈɑkʃən/ /ˈɔkʃən/ Listen

noun

Auction n.

A public sale of property to the highest bidder, esp. by a person licensed and authorized for the purpose; a vendue.

The things sold by auction or put up to auction. "Ask you why Phryne the whole auction buys?" Note: In the United States, the more prevalent expression has been "sales at auction," that is, by an increase of bids (Lat. auctione). This latter form is preferable.

Dutch auction, the public offer of property at a price beyond its value, then gradually lowering the price, till some one accepts it as purchaser.

verb

Auction v. t. To sell by auction.

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Etymology of 'Auction'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Auction" Quotes from Famous Books

... MS. belonged, in 1693, to Thomas Grey, second Earl of Stamford. It has his autograph at the commencement, and on the sides are his arms (four quarterings) in gold. In 1819, it was sold by auction in London, as part of the collection of Thomas Lloyd, Esq. (No. 1465), and was then bought by Thomas Thorpe, bookseller. Whilst Mr. Lloyd was the possessor, the MS. was lent to Dr. Lingard, whose note of thanks to Mr. Lloyd is preserved in the volume. From Thorpe ...

— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... the depots. Don Quixote's Rosinante was a superb animal compared with those which returned to Dresden. Most of them had previously perished by the way. Here they covered all the streets. The men sold them out of hand, partly for a few groschen. A great number were publicly put up to auction by the French commissaries; and you may form some idea what sorry beasts they must have been, when you know that a lot of 26 was sold for 20 dollars. After some time the whole of the horse-guards arrived here. They were computed at 5000 men, all of whom were unfit for service. How changed! ...

— Frederic Shoberl Narrative of the Most Remarkable Events Which Occurred In and Near Leipzig • Frederic Shoberl (1775-1853)

... which the inhabitants of the narrow and fashionable street and those who passed through it had been accustomed. Such individuals as had anticipated beholding at some early day notices conspicuously placed announcing "Sale by Auction. Elegant Modern Furniture" were vaguely puzzled as well as surprised by the fact that no such notices appeared even inconspicuously. Also there did not draw up before the door—even as the weeks went on—huge ...

— The Head of the House of Coombe • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... there was an auction-sale of fifty girls without character at Tortuga. They went off so well that fifty more were soon supplied. Schoelcher says that in the twelfth volume of the "Archives de la Marine" there is a note of "one hundred nymphs for the Antilles and a hundred more for San Domingo," under ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 59, September, 1862 • Various

... was at that time the only copy in America. He retained his scholarly tastes throughout his whole life, and in looking back I delight to picture him as seated in his library surrounded by his beloved books. In 1850, about two years after his death, his library was sold at auction, the catalogue of which covers 114 closely printed pages. Among the purchasers were William E. Burton, the actor, Chief Justice Charles P. Daly and Henry ...

— As I Remember - Recollections of American Society during the Nineteenth Century • Marian Gouverneur

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