bid fair Definition

bid¹
verb bid, bidding

tr & intr
1. To offer (an amount of money) when trying to buy something, especially at an auction.

Thesaurus: offer, ante, venture, proffer, tender, propose, request, solicit.
tr & intr
2. cards.
To state in advance (the number of tricks one will try to win).
intr
3. To state a price one will charge for work to be done.

Form: bid for something (especially)

noun

1. An offer of an amount of money in payment for something, especially at an auction.
2. cards.
A statement of how many tricks one proposes to win.
3. colloq
Especially in journalistic usage: an attempt to obtain or achieve something.
Example: a bid for freedom

Derivative: bidder
noun

Derivative: bidding

See separate entry.

Idiom: bid fair

formal
To seem likely.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon beodan meaning ‘to command' or ‘summon'.

Phrasal Verb: bid in

Said of the owner of an item for sale at an auction, or of their agent: to make a bid that is greater than the highest offer (and so retain the item). See also buy in.

Phrasal Verb: bid something up

To raise its market price by some artificial means, eg by bids that are not genuine.