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fire sale

noun

  1. a special sale of merchandise actually or supposedly damaged by fire.
  2. a sale, as of assets, at reduced prices, in order to raise money quickly.


fire sale

noun

  1. a sale of goods at reduced prices after a fire at a shop or factory
    1. any instance of offering goods or assets at greatly reduced prices to ensure a quick sale
    2. ( as modifier )

      fire-sale prices

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Other Words From

  • fire-sale adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of fire sale1

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
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Example Sentences

The Nationals’ deadline fire sale unfolded in a matter of days.

The Phillies’ and the Braves’ surges are also the result of their organizations’ commitment at the trade deadline and show just how much team-building is possible there — assuming that someone like the Nationals decides to throw a fire sale.

Older brands are continuing to stumble, and repo men are preparing for the almost certain fire sale.

From Digiday

With a particularly wide divide this season between the league’s haves and have-nots — the New York Jets are winless and 12 other teams have one or two victories each — there are many candidates for trade-deadline fire sales.

The New York Post yesterday provided an update on the sale process, writing that AT&T is pressing ahead with an auction even though it is "shaping up to be a fire sale."

Eventually, the fire sale extended to his personal belongings—including a $20 enamel teapot.

The two papers were sold twice more—for ever-dwindling fire-sale prices—in the two years that followed.

Cerberus is now going to have to dump Freedom Group at a fire-sale price.

You mean, to be in the room with the President of the United States is now on fire sale for $100?

As the fabled magazine faces a fire sale, the Pulitzer Prize winning editor faces criticism for "absentee" management.

About th' time Hogan got th' flower-pot, th' fire-sale ads an' th' Rooshyan outrage news both stopped in th' newspa-apers.

When bidding don't get excited and think you're attending an auction of shirt-waists at a fire-sale.

Number tens alone, whether one pair or more, I wot not, represented their gigantic fire sale.

If others had fires he was on hand to buy the salvage, and whether he bought it or not he managed to have a "Fire Sale."

A few days later there was a fire sale by one of the merchants, and I got the job of ringing the auction bell.

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