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↑vendue n
Also sp va(a)ndoo, vandue, vendoo[Du vendu, earlier vendue]chiefly Northeast, esp New England
old-fash
Cf sale
Note: The legal term public vendue is still current and not treated here.An auction.
- 1680 in 1887 Huntington NY Town Rec. 1.262, [The] lot was . . sould to the above sd. finch at a vandue.
- 1726 in 1898 Smithtown NY Records 81, After 6 hours they are to be sold at a vandue.
- 1771 in 1915 New Engl. Hist. & Geneal. Reg. 69.14 MA, Their was a Vendue at Mr Ivorys to sel that hay of Butlers.
- 1774 (1957) Fithian Jrl. & Letters 177 NJ, What in New-Jersey we call a Vendue here [=in VA] they [call] a “Sale.”
- 1806 (1904) Roe Diary 28 NY, This afternoon I have attended a vandue for John Tiler.
- 1816 Pickering Vocab. 192 NEng, Vendue. Auction. . . This word was formerly more common than auction. It is now chiefly used in legal proceedings, in conformity with the phraseology of ancient statutes of the different States.
- 1842 in 1959 IN Mag. Hist. 55.349 wPA, neKY, The plunder was all divided among the companies. . . It was sold at vendue on the spot.
- 1861 Holmes Venner 1.109 NEng, I don’t mean to set her up at vaandoo.
- 1869 Galaxy 7.119 SC (as of 1842) [Black], I asked the meaning of the unusual crowd. “Vandoo, massa,” was his reply. “Dese people hab jus’ come down de riber from Massa Papineau’s plantation, and goin’ to be sold to-day.”
- 1898 (1899) Earle Home Life 274 NEng, To this day at vendues or sales of old country households in New England, there will be handed out great rolls of woollen pieces.
- 1899 (1912) Green VA Folk-Speech 469, Vendue. . . Vandue. A public auction.
- 1907 DN 3.203 seNH, Vendue. . . Auction. A word remembered but no longer used by the oldest generation.
- 1929 AmSp 5.123 ME, Bought at a “vendoo” meant bought at auction.
- 1930 Shoemaker 1300 Words 64 cPA Mts (as of c1900), Vendue—A country sale, or auction of household goods.
- 1932 DN 6.284 swCT, Vandue. An auction.
- 1943 LANE Map 564–65 NEng, The terms auction, auction sale and vendue . . were systematically asked for only during the second year of the investigation. The material is therefore incomplete, only 170 responses having been recorded. [26 infs gave the response vendue; of these, 15 indicated that it was obsolete, 2 that it was a book word, and 1 that he had heard it in NY.]
- 1945 Partridge January Thaw 232 CT, They began to feel the excitement of the vendue even before they had come near enough to see the long lines of cars.
- 1955 DE Folkl. Bulletin 1.20, Vendue (public sale).
- 1991 DARE File seNY, Vendue = auction.