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auction
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
auction
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Dutch auction
online auction
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
online
▪ There are millions of goods for sale in thousands of categories across hundreds of online auctions.
public
▪ Much to William Pitt's disgust Cator sold the bond by public auction to a solicitor called Yates.
▪ This is a state that sells its road kill at public auction.
▪ The girl, he thought, like all her kind, was now forced into this public auction.
silent
▪ Samit is the leading force behind the Net-A-Thon, an on-line cross between a telethon and a charity silent auction.
▪ A silent auction featured many items donated by local businesses.
▪ A dinner and silent auction follows with the social hour at 7 p.m. in the Sawmill with Rooney's wife performing.
▪ Several airlines are experimenting with selling tickets in cyberspace via silent auctions or last-minute fare deals publicized by e-mail.
▪ The proceedings include a silent auction, dinner catered by Stars Restaurant and, yes, plenty of dance.
■ NOUN
block
▪ The following year his museum and all his other buildings went on the auction block to satisfy his debtors.
▪ Those parcels may hit the auction block.
▪ Surely he will find himself once more on the dreaded auction block.
▪ Hilton made it clear that those assets would likely be put on the auction block.
▪ As she did, she saw the young slave girl on the auction block.
charity
▪ Many entertainments are planned for the night including a charity auction, games and a tombola.
▪ Sometimes, the cars are bought at U.S. government or charity auctions.
house
▪ The wealthy Detroit property developer of shopping malls enjoyed the social prestige of owning the world's largest auction house.
▪ World Golf opened in mid-December in Sherman Oaks, in a brick building that once was an auction house.
▪ The auction houses may anticipate an effect on prices, although early and late impressions are already clearly differentiated in catalogue descriptions.
▪ It cost $ 93, 500 at an auction house.
▪ Since then Sotheby's business has spread into less traditional auction house areas, including real estate.
▪ The auction house decided to withdraw from the sale when its December 1990 contract with Lord Northampton came up for renewal.
▪ The auction house had expected £3 million from the sale - it got £10 million.
▪ Is Phillips getting to parts that other auction houses can not reach?
market
▪ A co-operative approach by auction markets was a safer alternative, he believed.
▪ Another distinction is that some wholesale markets are auction markets, and some are over-the-counter markets. 5.
▪ He felt embarrassed at the thought of walking among the men, assessing them as though they were cattle in an auction market.
▪ The auction market in foreign exchange involves trading in futures contracts.
price
▪ The Van Gogh holds the world auction price record of $ 82.5m.
▪ The securities will pay a real rate of return, based on the auction price, plus an inflation adjustment.
▪ Sotheby's can ill afford to have its auction prices called into question.
room
▪ As the author of this publication, my opinion has been sought from time to time by dealers, other scholars and the auction rooms.
▪ The antiquities for sale have come from private collections in London and New York, from auction rooms and the trade.
▪ And just across the street was an auction room.
▪ Oh, and always trust your instinct in the auction room.
▪ Considerable collections can often be acquired in a single auction room lot.
sale
▪ By conducting the world's first airborne auction sale.
▪ A synagogue canceled its ice cream social and auction sale.
▪ When Bill was setting up his first home, he used to attend auction sales, looking for reasonably priced furniture.
▪ Replacements such as furniture and curtains which I picked up in auction sales we kept in what we called the dry store.
▪ It was the largest auction sale of a single collector held this century, and made seven million pounds.
▪ The difference between an offer and an invitation to treat can most clearly be seen in auction sales.
▪ I started attending auction sales both locally and in London and gradually got the melin into shape for letting.
▪ Damaged equipment can and does appear at auction sales but often remains undetected until the buyer has taken it home.
site
▪ The Business Software Alliance has estimated that up to 80 per cent of software sold on auction sites may be illegal.
▪ The aircraft landed at Cannon International Airport and were taxied down city streets to the auction site.
▪ The retailers themselves are increasingly finding strength in numbers, signing up for Internet-based auctions sites and buying groups.
▪ These counterfeit copies have been known to turn up on major auction sites, so do beware.
▪ Most auction sites sell either individual bits of kit from joe Public, or sell on surplus stock in bulk.
▪ Software can be seen on all auction sites.
■ VERB
appear
▪ Comprising over 200 pieces, the Larner collection is the largest single-owner collection of its kind to appear at auction.
▪ Of course there are collections of these models and sometimes they appear at auction.
▪ Damaged equipment can and does appear at auction sales but often remains undetected until the buyer has taken it home.
buy
▪ I have tried buying second-hand machines at auction with some mixed success.
▪ I bought it at an auction in London last year.
▪ For the first time that anyone can remember, the Soviet Union has been buying at the London auction.
▪ And all had been bought at a government auction.
▪ Branson bought them at an auction which inflated the group's price far beyond its true value.
▪ You can always buy at auction later.
conduct
▪ Mr Jeremy Sparks, Phillips's operations manager, will conduct most of the auction from the hexagonal pine pulpit.
hold
▪ The Van Gogh holds the world auction price record of $ 82.5m.
▪ There are five main sales centers, including one in Los Angeles, which hold auctions every nine weeks.
▪ It is currently holding a gilt auction of around £3 billion on the last Wednesday of every month.
▪ The City decided to sell the land, and this summer held an auction.
▪ Strathclyde regional council even decided to hold an auction because the ruthless Government have allowed it to deteriorate.
▪ The group could hold its first auction within the next two weeks if enough cars are donated, she added.
▪ In these circumstances, advertisements will be construed as a declaration of intention to hold an auction and not a contract.
▪ But some two dozen states collect delinquent taxes on property by holding lien certificate auctions.
include
▪ The building will include an auction hall, valeting and inspection areas, a wash bay and entry control.
▪ The proceedings include a silent auction, dinner catered by Stars Restaurant and, yes, plenty of dance.
put
▪ The company's stay was fairly brief, for in 1908 operations ceased and the mill was put up for auction.
▪ Hilton made it clear that those assets would likely be put on the auction block.
▪ Bill McMahon puts its auction value at around £120.
▪ Read in studio Five pubs worth seven hundred thousand pounds have been put up for auction by one of the big breweries.
sell
▪ Too few of his greatest paintings are sold at auction to be indexed but appear to have risen at least twice as fast.
▪ Autos, motorcycles, vans and pickup trucks abandoned at Los Angeles International Airport are sold at auction.
▪ The Business Software Alliance has estimated that up to 80 per cent of software sold on auction sites may be illegal.
▪ S., most timber is grown on privately held land and is sold at auction.
▪ We sent the lambs to be sold at auction in the autumn.
▪ Under the proposal, the debt will be turned over to a securitization fund, which will sell it at auction.
▪ The vendor or his agent may already have decided to sell the land by auction, tender or highest offer.
▪ When the market is buoyant, it will normally be in the vendor's interest to sell at auction.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Bikes that have not been claimed by the owners will be sold at a public auction January 11.
▪ How much do you think the painting would fetch at auction?
▪ Sotheby's decided to hold auctions in Japan twice a year.
▪ The buyer did not attend the auction, but sent a representative to place the bids.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A judge has given class-action status to a suit against the auction giant.
▪ An undeniable attraction of an auction is the possibility that some undervalued item may be for sale.
▪ And all had been bought at a government auction.
▪ His first painting goes up for auction on Friday.
▪ Much to William Pitt's disgust Cator sold the bond by public auction to a solicitor called Yates.
▪ Sometimes, the cars are bought at U.S. government or charity auctions.
▪ There are even sections on architectural salvage, ethnic crafts and furnishings, auctions and markets.
II.verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ One of the Beatles' guitars is being auctioned for charity.
▪ The contents of the house were auctioned to pay off the family's debts.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Dole wants those sections of the airwaves to be auctioned instead.
▪ Instead, county governments auction off tax lien certificates that investors purchase for the amount of the delinquent taxes and penalties.
▪ It was finally decided to auction the aircraft along with the majority of the Fox Studio's props.
▪ The Bank will announce on Tuesday the terms for its new gilt, to be auctioned on April 29.
▪ The real purpose of the tax code is to supply tax breaks for politicians to auction off to campaign contributors.
▪ Writers like novelist and children's author Susan Hill from Beckley near Oxford bring their own signed books to be auctioned later.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Auction

Auction \Auc"tion\, v. t. To sell by auction.

Auction

Auction \Auc"tion\, n. [L. auctio an increasing, a public sale, where the price was called out, and the article to be sold was adjudged to the last increaser of the price, or the highest bidder, fr. L. augere, auctum, to increase. See Augment.]

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

  2. The things sold by auction or put up to auction.

    Ask you why Phryne the whole auction buys ?
    --Pope.

    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.
    --P. Cyc.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
auction

"a sale by increase of bids," 1590s, from Latin auctionem (nominative auctio) "an increasing sale, auction, public sale," noun of action from past participle stem of augere "to increase," from PIE root *aug- (1) "to increase" (see augment). In northern England and Scotland, called a roup. In the U.S., something is sold at auction; in England, by auction.

auction

1807, from auction (n.). Related: Auctioned; auctioning.

Wiktionary
auction

n. A public event where goods or property are sold to the highest bidder. vb. To sell at an auction.

Related phrases:
WordNet
auction

  1. n. a variety of bridge in which tricks made in excess of the contract are scored toward game; now generally superseded by contract bridge [syn: auction bridge]

  2. the public sale of something to the highest bidder [syn: auction sale, vendue]

auction

v. sell at an auction [syn: auction off, auctioneer]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder. The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction in use today. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid required to be higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, bidders may call out their bids themselves (or have a proxy call out a bid on their behalf), or bids may be submitted electronically with the highest current bid publicly displayed. In a Dutch auction, the auctioneer begins with a high asking price for some quantity of like items; the price is lowered until a participant is willing to accept the auctioneer's price for some quantity of the goods in the lot or until the seller's reserve price is met. While auctions are most associated in the public imagination with the sale of antiques, paintings, rare collectibles and expensive wines, auctions are also used for commodities, livestock, radio spectrum and used cars. In economic theory, an auction may refer to any mechanism or set of trading rules for exchange.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "auction".

And like as not he would have taken a few store pigs to the auction mart this week, sending the deadly contagion all over ALL THINGS WISE AND WONDERFUL405 Yorkshire and beyond.

I heard you say today you bought that Cowper alveolar drill of yours for fifty cents at an auction of the instruments of your old professor.

Once all the information was gathered and the piece was authenticated, an estimate was made, a blurb written, a photograph taken, and an auction lot number assigned.

Then the bimbo from the auction threw herself into his arms, and Kira turned off the set.

Joe tromped loudly into the house and transferred the twelve birdlets from bis pockets into an old-fashioned, hexagonal glass-paneled ballot jar which he had bought for five bucks at a Monte Vista, Colorado, auction.

But then the same man had come running up, out of breath, and as angry as a bondling was permitted to be, just as the auction closed.

Then the house was put up at public auction, and brought little more than sufficient to pay the creditors.

Ralph, who is as much an old hand at purchasing original art as he as at cruising, had advised me in advance that cruise art auctions are seldom a good idea.

The solicitor paused to take a sip of water, and went on to explain that Emma wished the Faberg6 object of art to be auctioned, the money returned to her grandchildren who had purchased it for her as a gift for her eightieth birthday.

I told him the short versionall about the art auction and the Denarians, but I elided over the details afterward, which were none of his chaste business.

He advised me to make it a condition of the agreement that my goods should not be sold by auction, and that my creditors should consider his valuation as final and binding.

They are great friends of Jews and itinerants, hand-in-glove with smugglers, Ladies Bountiful to pedlers, are diligent readers of puffs and advertisements, and eternal haunters of sales and auctions.

The house, village, and extensive rural areas on all sides reverted to the state and were auctioned off in the absence of discoverable van der Heyl heirs.

Veblen Hall, and we auction off only the innest things we can find, and best of all, all the money goes to a good cause.

The loadmaster paused only momentarily to consider the bother of being ten or more minutes late getting the cargo off the spacecraft for the auction.