bid
verb (used with object)
to command; order; direct.
Showing results for "bid"
- past participle of bide.
bid
1 American
[bid]
/ bɪd /
verb (used with object)
bade,
bad,
bid,
bidden,
bid,
bid,
bidding
-
to command; order; direct.
to bid them depart.
-
to express (a greeting, farewell, benediction, or wish).
to bid good night.
-
Commerce. to offer (a certain sum) as the price one will pay or charge.
They bid $25,000 and got the contract.
-
Cards. to enter a bid of (a given quantity or suit).
to bid two no-trump.
-
to summon by invitation; invite.
verb (used without object)
bade,
bad,
bid,
bidden,
bid,
bid,
bidding
-
to command; order; direct.
I will do as you bid.
-
to make a bid.
She bid at the auction for the old chair.
noun
-
bids
plural
-
an act or instance of bidding.
-
Cards.
-
an offer to make a specified number of points or to take a specified number of tricks.
-
the amount of such an offer.
-
the turn of a person to bid.
-
-
an invitation.
a bid to join the club.
-
an attempt to attain some goal or purpose.
a bid for election.
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Also called bid price. Stock Exchange. the highest price a prospective buyer is willing to pay for a security at a given moment.
verb phrase
-
bid up to increase the market price of by increasing bids.
-
bid in to overbid all offers for (property) at an auction in order to retain ownership.
idioms
bid
2
American
[bid]
/ bɪd /
verb
Archaic.
b.i.d.
3
American
abbreviation
B.I.D.
4
American
abbreviation
bid
1
British
/ bɪd /
verb
-
to offer (an amount) in attempting to buy something, esp in competition with others as at an auction
-
commerce to respond to an offer by a seller by stating (the more favourable terms) on which one is willing to make a purchase
-
(tr) to say (a greeting, blessing, etc)
to bid farewell
-
to order; command
do as you are bid!
-
to attempt to attain power, etc
-
(tr) to invite; ask kindly
she bade him sit down
-
bridge to declare in the auction before play how many tricks one expects to make
-
to resist boldly
-
to seem probable
noun
-
-
an offer of a specified amount, as at an auction
-
the price offered
-
-
commerce
-
a statement by a buyer, in response to an offer by a seller, of the more favourable terms that would be acceptable
-
the price or other terms so stated
-
-
an attempt, esp an attempt to attain power
-
bridge
-
the number of tricks a player undertakes to make
-
a player's turn to make a bid
-
-
short for bid price
b.i.d.
2
British
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bid1
before 900; Middle English bidden, Old English biddan to beg, ask; cognate with Old Frisian bidda, Old Saxon biddian, Old High German bittan ( German bitten ), Old Norse bithja, Gothic bidjan; all < Germanic *bid-ja- (< Indo-European *bhidh- ) command, akin to Greek peíthein to persuade, inspire with trust, English bide
Origin of b.i.d.3
From Latin bis in diē
Explanation
If you make the winning bid on an item, you offer the highest price and get to take it home. Congratulations, and enjoy your new paper weight! Bid comes from an Old English word meaning “to offer,” which is right in line with its meaning today. To bid is the act of offering a bid, or more generally to try to get something. With several companies bidding for your services, you have a lot to consider. Tip: go where the weather's warmest.
Vocabulary lists containing bid
Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 1
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Lee's General Order No. 9: A Farewell Address
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After weeks of leaking lower, bullish call options were suddenly bid to the moon, McElligott noted.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
The U.A.E. is ramping up oil production in a bid to establish itself more prominently as an energy superpower.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
One House Republican—North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards—dropped his reelection bid this week under a growing cloud of scandal.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2026
He won the legal bid after he successfully claimed he needed high energy drinks and protein bars for his fitness regime.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
She summoned her messenger Iris and ordered her to go to the house of Somnus, God of Sleep, and bid him send a dream to Alcyone to tell her the truth about Ceyx.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
The Defense Logistics Agency has already asked for bids to stockpile up to 403 tons of indium over three years — more than a third of a year’s global output.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
Under UK takeover rules, the two firms had until Friday to table revised bids.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Instead once a year he takes them to a livestock auction where buyers place bids and the hammer decides.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Avoiding dramatic and attention-grabbing high-risk bids, he worked on what he called the creep system, inching toward his goals by winning one boring low-bid hand after another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
My bodyguard bids me farewell as I’m handed off to her.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
It resembles LDL, often called "bad" cholesterol, but includes an additional protein that may make it more likely to contribute to cardiovascular disease.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
Mourinho claimed that the keeper had a bad attitude.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Federal agencies have warned for years that American water systems are particularly vulnerable to foreign hackers and other bad actors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
SpaceX’s aggressive push to provide computing resources for artificial-intelligence companies could spell bad news for neocloud companies, according to analysts.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
He cast around the riverbank for food, but saw only the dead wolves, and they smelt too bad even to think about.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
The royals packed their suitcases, bade farewell to the palace staff, and climbed into an armored Mercedes that drove them to a nearby rail station.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
On Thursday, White House officials bade farewell to one of the two heavily modified Boeing 747s that have transported US presidents for decades, which fueled speculation that the new jet would be unveiled imminently.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
Both are alarmed by the sudden reappearance of a Frenchman nicknamed Beast, to whom they’d each bade goodbye years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
These words were just over six weeks ago, as the United head coach bade farewell to journalists following the club's end-of-season tour to Asia.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
Petra Cotes helped him pack his clothes and bade him farewell without shedding a tear, but she forgot to give him the patent leather shoes that he wanted to wear in his coffin.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
When and if you are bidden to the journey by a POC who has granted you a brief visit to the darker side of human nature, explore safely.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2020
Christopher Meloni, Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, and many others may have bidden the show farewell, but Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish, and, yes, Ice-T are killing it these days.
From Slate ● Dec. 26, 2014
Mrs. Hinderer did as she was bidden and is now, from all reports, still domesticated upon the banks of the Kankakee.
From Time Magazine Archive
Newshawk Perkins did as bidden, and had his picture taken.
From Time Magazine Archive
Haldir had bidden them farewell and gone back again to the fences of the North, where great watch was now kept since the tidings of Moria that the Company had brought.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
But even some of the grants slated to fund more traditional human rights projects skirt federal requirements for competitive bidding that are meant to deter waste, fraud and abuse.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
A spending cap, or salary cap, could limit the earnings potential of top athletes because it would prevent an open bidding process.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Andy Burnham will tell firms bidding for public contracts to prove they are creating jobs rather than meeting green and social targets in a bid to get more people into work.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
A debut author shopping a manuscript for a book called, “Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body,” recently sparked a bidding war that ended with a $2 million, two-book deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Since there was no way to verify the data’s authenticity, the bidding stayed low, and I won the auction for a few thousand credits.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
