garage sale

American  

noun

garage sales plural

1. a sale of used or unwanted household goods, personal items, bric-a-brac, etc., typically held in one's garage or yard.

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garage sale British  

noun

1. a sale of personal belongings or household effects held at a person's home, usually in the garage

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• garage sales
  plural

Etymology

Origin of garage sale

An Americanism dating back to 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

garage sale

Friends don’t usually handle each other’s money, but that’s exactly what you’d be doing by selling her items at your garage sale.

From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026

“They’re painting the whole sector with the same brush, and I think that’s been the opportunity to buy some of the winners at garage sale prices,” Ives says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026

Chin began skating at age 8 after her mother, Marjorie, bought her a pair of skates at a garage sale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2026

Families and couples of a certain age might even haul out grandma’s treasured china and give it a good dusting — that is, if you didn’t offload it at a garage sale or eBay.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025

“I think we sold about twenty of ’em in a bag for fifty cents at that garage sale.

From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley