auction

auction

English

Etymology

From Latin auctiō (“an increase, auction”), from Latin augere (“to increase”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: ôk'shən, IPA^(key): /ˈɔːkʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːkʃən
• (General Australian) enPR: ŏk'shən, IPA^(key): /ˈɒkʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɒkʃən

Noun

auction (plural auctions)

1. A public event where goods or property are sold to the highest bidder.
   • 2014 July 12, “Competition, hammered”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8895:

     Auctions come in a wide variety. In a “Dutch auction”, often used to sell flowers and fruit, prices start high and gradually drop until a bidder is willing to pay up. A “Japanese auction” is a bit like poker: bids rise with each round and anyone who wants to win must bid every time. Vendors using auctions rid themselves of the headache of choosing prices and instead just pick the rules bidders must follow.

2. (bridge) The first stage of a deal, in which players bid to determine the final contract.

Synonyms

• roup sale

Derived terms

• auctionable
• auction bridge
• auction call
• auctioneer
• auctioneeress
• auction-goer
• auction house
• auctionlike
• auction pitch
• auction theory
• candle auction
• dollar auction
• Dutch auction
• e-auction
• jam auction
• knockout auction
• reauction
• re-auction
• silent auction
• slave auction
• Vickrey auction

 

Translations

public sales event

Albanian: ankand (sq) m Arabic: مَزَاد‎ m (mazād), مُزَايَدَة‎ f (muzāyada) Egyptian Arabic: مزاد‎ m (mazād) Armenian: աճուրդ (hy) (ačurd) Asturian: puya f Azerbaijani: auksion (az) Belarusian: аўкцыён m (aŭkcyjón) Bengali: নিলাম (nilam) Bulgarian: търг (bg) m (tǎrg), наддаване n (naddavane) Catalan: subhasta (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 拍賣／拍卖 (zh) (pāimài), 競賣／竞卖 (jìngmài),竞拍 (jìngpāi) Czech: aukce (cs) f, dražba (cs) f Danish: auktion c Dutch: veiling (nl) f Esperanto: aŭkcio Estonian: oksjon, enampakkumine Finnish: huutokauppa (fi) French: enchères (fr) f pl, vente aux enchères (fr) f Galician: poxa (gl) f, almoeda f, proia f, subhasta (gl) f, leiloio m, venduta f Georgian: აუქციონი (aukcioni) German: Versteigerung (de) f, Auktion (de) f Greek: δημοπρασία (el) f (dimoprasía) Hebrew: מכירה פומבית \\ מְכִירָה פֻּמְבִּית‎ f (m'khirá pumbít) Hindi: नीलामी (hi) f (nīlāmī) Hungarian: árverés (hu), aukció (hu) Icelandic: uppboð n Ido: auciono (io) Indonesian: lelang (id) Irish: ceant m, ceantáil f Italian: asta (it) f Japanese: 競売 (ja) (きょうばい, kyōbai), オークション (ja) (ōkushon) Kazakh: аукцион (auksion) Korean: 경매 (ko) (gyeongmae), 옥션 (oksyeon) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: mezad (ku) f Kyrgyz: аукцион (ky) (auktsion) Lao: ເລຫຼັງ (lē lang) Latin: auctiō f Latvian: ūtrupe, izsole Lithuanian: aukcionas m Macedonian: аукција f (aukcija) Malay: lelong (ms) Maori: mākete Mongolian: үнэ хаялцуулах (üne xajalcuulax) Norman: vendue f (Jersey) Norwegian: Bokmål: auksjon m Nynorsk: auksjon m Persian: مزایده‎ (fa) (mozâyede) Polish: aukcja (pl) f, licytacja (pl) f Portuguese: leilão (pt) f Romanian: licitaţie (ro) f Russian: аукцио́н (ru) m (aukción) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: аукција f Roman: aukcija (sh) f Slovak: dražba (sk) f Slovene: dražba (sl) f Spanish: subasta (es) f, remate (es), almoneda (es) f Swahili: mnada (sw) Swedish: auktion (sv) c Tagalog: pasalukan, amboy Tajik: музояда (muzoyada), ауксион (auksion) Telugu: వేలం (te) (vēlaṁ) Thai: ขายทอดตลาด (th), การประมูล (th), การขายทอดตลาด Turkish: açık artırma (tr), müzayede (tr), mezat (tr) Turkmen: auksion Ukrainian: аукціо́н (uk) m (aukción) Urdu: نیلامی‎ f (nīlāmī) Uzbek: auksion (uz), auktsion Vietnamese: bán đấu giá (𧸝鬬價), đấu giá (vi) (鬬價) Welsh: arwerthiant m Westrobothnian: avesjon m, avisjåon m, avensjåon m Yiddish: ליציטאַציע‎ (litsitatsye)

Verb

auction (third-person singular simple present auctions, present participle auctioning, simple past and past participle auctioned)

1. To sell at an auction.

Derived terms

• auctioneer
• auction off

Translations

to sell at an auction

Armenian: վաճառել աճուրդով (vačaṙel ačurdov) Asturian: puyar, puxar Bulgarian: продавам на търг (prodavam na tǎrg) Catalan: subhastar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 拍賣／拍卖 (zh) (pāimài) Czech: dražit, licitovat Dutch: veilen (nl) Finnish: myydä huutokaupassa, huutokaupata (fi) French: vente aux enchères (fr) Galician: poxar (gl), piñorar, rular (gl), subhastar (gl) German: versteigern (de) Greek: πλειστηριάζω (el) (pleistiriázo) Ancient: ἀποκηρύσσω (apokērússō) Irish: cuir ar ceant, cuir ceant ar, ceantáil Italian: vendere all'asta, mettere all'asta Korean: 경매하다 (gyeongmaehada) Latin: praeco Malay: melelong Maori: mākete Persian: مزایده‎ (fa) (mozâyede) Polish: aukcjonować impf (dated) Portuguese: leiloar (pt) Russian: продава́ть с аукцио́на (prodavátʹ s aukcióna), продава́ть с молотка́ (prodavátʹ s molotká) Slovene: dražiti (sl) Spanish: subastar (es), rematar (es) Swedish: auktionera (sv) Telugu: వేలం వేయు (vēlaṁ vēyu) Turkish: açık artırma (tr), müzayede (tr)

See also

• bid
• bidder

Anagrams

• caution, tauonic