Vendues

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. An event or occasion where items are sold to the highest bidder
2. A type of auction in which goods are offered to the public for competitive bidding
3. A public sale where various items are made available for purchase through bidding processes

Etymology: "Vendues" is the plural of "vendue," an older word for a public auction where goods go to the highest bidder. The noun traces back to Old French "vendre," meaning "to sell," which came from Latin "vēndere," itself a compound of "venum" ("for sale") and "dare" ("to give"), so the Latin root literally carries the sense of putting something up for sale. The English form passed through two routes at once. It came from Norman "vendue," the dialect of French spoken in Normandy, and from Dutch "vendu," a word from the same Old French source. The Dutch influence is notable because the word is especially associated with the Dutch-settled colonies of New York and New Jersey, where public sales of this kind were a familiar part of commerce. The word is now rare outside legal and historical contexts, where it survives mainly as a precise name for an auction held openly, with bidding by anyone present.