auction block

[ awk-shuhn blok ]

noun

1. Also called block. a platform from which an auctioneer sells:

   The auction block in front of the old courthouse was removed and placed in a slavery exhibit at the state museum.

Word History and Origins

Origin of auction block¹

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. put on the auction block, to offer for sale at auction; offer to sell to the highest bidder. Also put on the block.

Example Sentences

It resembled unforgettable images of slaves on the auction block.

From ProPublica

That year, after Richardson was at the center of a lurid racism and sexual harassment scandal, he announced he was putting the team on the auction block.

From ProPublica

As the author of a 1711 book noted, traders also smeared captives’ skin with palm oil to make them “look smooth, sleek, and young” before sending them to the auction block.

From Popular-Science

Along the Prado they used to sell slaves on the auction block, too.

From The Daily Beast

Both ideas are admirable, and quite possibly necessary to save American democracy from the auction block.

From The Daily Beast

From April 18-25 all of the eggs will go on display at Rockefeller Center before a select group hits the auction block.

From The Daily Beast

Some of the rock-star artists who experienced meteoric rises, helped by manipulations on the auction block, are now in freefall.

From The Daily Beast

Will CanWest go bankrupt, and if so, what would happen if the New Republic went on the auction block?

From The Daily Beast

Being thus sustained, the slave-traders set up their auction-block in no out-of-the-way place.

From Project Gutenberg

Begetting children for the auction block could hardly sanctify family ties.

From Project Gutenberg

A beautiful girl, almost white, was placed upon the auction block and exposed to the grossest indignities.

From Project Gutenberg

The Republican party, with the wand of progress, touched the auction-block and it became a schoolhouse.

From Project Gutenberg

The less valuable slaves were first placed upon the auction-block, one after another, and sold to the highest bidder.

From Project Gutenberg