bid
(bĭd)
[Middle English bidden, to ask, command (from Old English biddan; see gwhedh-), Middle English beden, to offer, proclaim (from Old English bēodan; see bheudh-).]
verb: bade (băd, bād) or bid, bid·den (bĭd́n) or bid, bid·ding, bids.
transitive verb
- To issue a command to; direct.
- To utter (a greeting or salutation).
- To invite to attend; summon.
- Games To state one's intention to take (tricks of a certain number or suit in cards): bid four hearts.
- To offer or propose (an amount) as a price.
- 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
- To make an offer to pay or accept a specified price: decided not to bid on the roll-top desk.
- To seek to win or attain something; strive.
noun
- An offer or proposal of a price.
- The amount offered or proposed: They lost the contract because their bid was too high.
- An invitation, especially one offering membership in a group or club.
- Games
- The act of bidding in cards.
- The number of tricks or points declared.
- The trump or no-trump declared.
- The turn of a player to bid.
- 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.
derivatives
- bid́der
- noun
