Origin:
1585–95; < Latin auctiōn- (stem of auctiō) an increase, especially in the bidding at a sale, equivalent to auct(us) increased, past participle of augēre (aug- increase + -tus past participle suffix) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

auc·tion·a·ble, adjective

auc·tion·ar·y, adjective

pro·auc·tion, adjective

un·auc·tioned, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To auction

Example Sentences

Recent sales figures suggest that former racecars may find success on the collectible car auction block.

Cash-strapped college students are using the popular online auction site to raise money-even when it seems they don't have.

Rarely has an auction of spectrum been so closely watched.

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Recent sales figures suggest that former racecars may find success on the collectible car auction block.

Cash-strapped college students are using the popular online auction site to raise money-even when it seems they don't have.

Rarely has an auction of spectrum been so closely watched.

My school/church is looking for donations for a charity auction.

Six northeastern states auction off the right to emit global warming pollution.

Today her works fetch astronomical prices at auction.

Jennifer turned a slab of wood found at a state auction into a dining table with recycled copper pipes as legs.

The online auction house suspends a user accused of cheating its customers.

Unexpected things come to the auction block sometimes.

Cars at wholesale auction often bring less than the scrap material value of the vehicle.

Both auction houses have also put a lot of effort into advising buyers on how to improve their collections.

But despite the agency's best efforts, illegal artifacts regularly end up on the international auction block.

The socially conscious conference launches with the announcement of a partnership with the online auction site.

The auction house has opened a fashion department to sell not historical costumes or celebrity castoffs but.

We still have the auction posters from the grandfathers losing their farms.

The auction house is keen to head off any notion that the sale might not succeed.

Cab drivers auction off foreigners to the highest bidders.

The online auction house pleases investors by announcing it will charge higher merchant fees for stores operating on the site.

But the wines that win the best prices at auction are those whose provenance is certain.

The circuit court ruled in the company's favor and ordered the property sold at auction.

Close to a year ago, when eBay's core auction business was showing.

Firm demand for a bond auction this week cannot mask deep problems with its.

Dealers and auction houses have approached the internet warily.

Germany's auction later this year could raise euro60 billion.

The auction process roots out quality and rewards it.

Away from the auction rooms prices had got even more inflated.

It's a sort of online version of a local auction house, but one with global reach and where the sale room never closes.

But there is a downside, which a row over that auction has brought sensationally to light.

Auction houses have their in-house insurance policies for art that they sell off.

Nine banks bought, and the auction was oversubscribed.

In good weeks more than a hundred stalls used to fill the town's auction ground.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

auction (ˈɔːkʃən)

—n
1.	Compare Dutch auction a public sale of goods or property, esp one in which prospective purchasers bid against each other until the highest price is reached
2.	the competitive calls made in bridge and other games before play begins, undertaking to win a given number of tricks if a certain suit is trumps
3.	See auction bridge

—vb (often foll by off)
4.	to sell by auction

[C16: from Latin auctiō an increasing, from augēre to increase]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

auction

"a sale by increase of bids," 1590s, from L. auctionem (nom. auctio) "an increasing sale," from auctus, pp. of augere "to increase," from PIE base *aug- "to increase" (see augment). In northern England and Scotland, called a roup. The verb is attested from 1807. In the U.S.,

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something is sold at auction; in England, by auction. Auctioneer (n.) is attested from 1708; as a verb from 1733.

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"His memory is like wares at the auction—going, going, and anon it will be gone."

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