Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Auction

Auc′tion (a̤k′shŭn), 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.

☞ 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.

Auc′tion, v. t. To sell by auction.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.