Auc'tion1, n.
n. [Lat. auctio, an increasing, a public sale, where the price was called out and the article sold adjudged to the last increaser of the price, or the highest bidder, from Lat. augere, auctum, to increase.]
Sense 1. A public sale of property to the highest bidder, and regularly, by a person licensed and authorized for the purpose; a vendue.
Sense 2. The things sold at auction.
Ask you why Prynne the whole auction buys? Pope.
In America, the more prevalent expression has been “sales at auction,” as if referring to the place where they are made. In England, the form has always been “sales by auction,” i. e., by an increase of bids (Lat. auctione). This latter form is more correct, and is now coming into use in some of our leading newspapers.
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.