AUCTION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.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

... much of this long-printed literature before the world. It changes hands, migrates to Tuebingen, Halle, or some other book-loving place; passes through a generation of owners, and turns up in some other spot, but little the worse for wear. The peasant is found at the book auction; the professor considers it a white day when a replenished purse and the sale of an old library are simultaneous facts. And when the hour arrives, the preparations are sometimes of the most comfortable and leisure-inviting character. We once attended an auction ...

— History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology • John F. Hurst

... passed the necessary supplementary acts disposing of illegally imported Africans. A few appear not to have passed any. Some of these laws, like the Alabama-Mississippi Territory Act of 1815,[66] directed such Negroes to be "sold by the proper officer of the court, to the highest bidder, at public auction, for ready money." One-half the proceeds went to the informer or to the collector of customs, the other half to the public treasury. Other acts, like that of North Carolina in 1816,[67] directed the Negroes to "be sold and disposed of for the use of the state." ...

— The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America - 1638-1870 • W. E. B. Du Bois

... confiscation of their property for the benefit of the nation. This measure has been carried into execution, and the government is now the possessor of a large amount of such property. These lands will be sold at public auction, and will fall into all sorts of hands. They will be divided and parceled out, and the rightful owners when they return to France will have no power to take possession of the property that once belonged to them. Very well—now I have wondered if the purchase ...

— Which? - or, Between Two Women • Ernest Daudet

... is said that woman suffragists are dreamers. There was a time within our memory when human flesh in this our free America was sold at auction. In those days a few earnest men dreamed of a time when our flag should no longer unfurl itself over a slave. Inspired by this great vision they bore the persecution and contumely of their fellows. In season and out of season ...

— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... forecastle we cleaned house, washing out the dead man's bunk and removing every vestige of him. By sea law and sea custom, we should have gathered his effects together and turned them over to the captain, who, later, would have held an auction in which we should have bid for the various articles. But no man wanted them, so we tossed them up on deck and overboard in the wake of the departed body—the last ill- treatment we could devise to wreak upon the one we had hated so. Oh, it was raw, believe ...

— The Human Drift • Jack London

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