bid up

verb

bade up or bid up; bidden up or bid up also bade up; bidding up; bids up

transitive verb

: to raise the price of (something, such as property at auction) by a succession of offers

Examples of bid up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rather than buying the 1950s and 1960s cars favored by older generations, new buyers are bidding up modern supercars from their own youth. — Robert Frank, CNBC, 13 Aug. 2026

Rising military expenditures across the world bid up interest rates by reducing the output available for savings. — Kenneth S. Rogoff, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2026

Despite eliciting bids up to $650,000, the lot failed to reach its reserve and was passed. — Robert Pearlman, ArsTechnica, 15 July 2026

And when buyers bid up temporary capacity like this, the pricing power sits with whoever owns the capacity. — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1864, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bid up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup