subhastation

English

Etymology

Latin subhastatio.

Noun

subhastation (plural subhastations)

1. (archaic) A public sale or auction.
   • 1713, Gilbert Burnet, A Description of Geneva:

     One of the best parts of their Law is the way of Selling Estates, which is likewise practised in Switzerland, and is called Sub-hastation, from the Roman Custom of selling Subhaft

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “subhastation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)