auction

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

AUC'TION, noun [Latin auctio, a public sale; Eng. to hawk. See Hawk.] 1. A public sale of property to the highest bidder, and regularly, by a person licensed and authorized for the purpose; a vendue. contracts for services, sometimes, are sold to the lowest bidder. By the Romans, this species of sale was made by a crier, sub hasta, under a spear stuck in the earth. 2. The thing sold at auction
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

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