AUCTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does auction mean? 

• AUCTION (noun)
  The noun AUCTION has 2 senses:

1. a variety of bridge in which tricks made in excess of the contract are scored toward game; now generally superseded by contract bridge

2. the public sale of something to the highest bidder

  Familiarity information: AUCTION used as a noun is rare.

• AUCTION (verb)
  The verb AUCTION has 1 sense:

1. sell at an auction

  Familiarity information: AUCTION used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AUCTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A variety of bridge in which tricks made in excess of the contract are scored toward game; now generally superseded by contract bridge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

auction; auction bridge

Hypernyms ("auction" is a kind of...):

bridge (any of various card games based on whist for four players)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The public sale of something to the highest bidder

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

auction; auction sale; vendue

Hypernyms ("auction" is a kind of...):

sale (the general activity of selling)

Domain member category:

upset price ((auction) the minimum price at which a seller of property will entertain bids)

bid; offer; tender (propose a payment)

by-bid (bid on behalf of someone else)

overbid (bid more than the object is worth)

underbid (bid too low)

outbid (bid higher than others)

underbid (bid lower than a competing bidder)

Derivation:

auction (sell at an auction)

auctioneer (an agent who conducts an auction)

• AUCTION (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they auction    ... he / she / it auctions   
Past simple: auctioned   
Past participle: auctioned   
-ing form: auctioning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sell at an auction

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

auction; auction off; auctioneer

Hypernyms (to "auction" is one way to...):

sell (exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent)

Domain category:

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

auction (the public sale of something to the highest bidder)

auctioneer (an agent who conducts an auction)

 Context examples 

The photographs, taken by engineers on the ship, only recently came to light when they were sold at auction.

(UK documentary claims fire weakened RMS Titanic, Wikinews)

In his trunk were found the invaluable Bruce-Partington plans, which he had put up for auction in all the naval centres of Europe.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Capricorn also rules auctions and objects of value from the past, in which case you would be working with valuables or landmark estates.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Then he have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice; and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of that other man who own them.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

You may be working on an important auction of historical artifacts or designing costumes or the sets for a historical film.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

You may be overseeing an estate sale, working on an auction, directing an archeological dig, or writing a screenplay or novel set in a previous era.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

You may be writing about auctions of these types of items, archeological digs, or old or new architecture (also ruled by Capricorn).

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Capricorn, where you have Saturn, Jupiter, Pluto, and Mars, as mentioned above, rules all things of historical value, so you may be working on an estate auction, a film that brings a historical novel to life, or an archeological dig to discover fossils, bones, and treasures from the past.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)