| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bid |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  b d |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: bade ( b d, b d) or bid, bid·den ( bd n) or bid, bid·ding, bids
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To issue a command to; direct. 2. To utter (a greeting or salutation). 3. To invite to attend; summon. 4. Inflected forms: past tense and past participle bid
Games To state one's intention to take (tricks of a certain number or suit in cards): bid four hearts. 5. Inflected forms: past tense and past participle bid
To offer or propose (an amount) as a price. 6. Inflected forms: past tense and past participle bid
To offer (someone) membership, as in a group or club: “glancing around to be sure that he had been bid by a society that he wanted” (Louis Auchincloss). | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. Inflected forms: past tense and past participle bid
To make an offer to pay or accept a specified price: decided not to bid on the roll-top desk. 2. Inflected forms: past tense and past participle bid
To seek to win or attain something; strive. | | NOUN: | 1a. An offer or proposal of a price. b. The amount offered or proposed: They lost the contract because their bid was too high. 2. An invitation, especially one offering membership in a group or club. 3. Games a. The act of bidding in cards. b. The number of tricks or points declared. c. The trump or no-trump declared. d. The turn of a player to bid. 4. An earnest effort to win or attain something: made a bid for the presidency. | | PHRASAL VERBS: | bid in To outbid on one's own property at an auction in order to raise the final selling price. bid out To offer (work) for bids from outside contractors. bid up To cause (a price) to rise by increasing the amount bid: bid up the price of wheat. | | IDIOMS: | bid defiance To refuse to submit; offer resistance to. bid fair To appear likely. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English bidden, to ask, command (from Old English biddan; see gwhedh- in Appendix I) and Middle English beden, to offer, proclaim (from Old English b odan; see bheudh- in Appendix I). | | OTHER FORMS: | bidder —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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