under the hammer

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Idioms and Phrases

For sale, as in These paintings and Oriental rugs must come under the hammer if we're to pay the mortgage . This expression alludes to the auctioneer's hammer, which is rapped to indicate a completed transaction. [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

After being stored for more than 30 years in a loft, the sleeve is going under the hammer at auctioneers, Wessex Auction Rooms, in Wiltshire.

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The sleeve is expected to sell for between £12,000 and £15,000 when it goes under the hammer on 16 April.

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The coin went for considerably less than the only other similar artefact to go under the hammer, which was sold last year in Switzerland for around £50,000.

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The BSA Goldstar which featured in the BBC's Hairy Bikers Go West went under the hammer at the National Motorcycle Museum near Solihull, and sold for £15,800, in aid of two charities.

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The Bible was among 23 other texts donated to various Oxfam shops, which went under the hammer at Bonhams between 10 and 20 March.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

under the gun under the impression

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