auctioneer

The announcer who conducts the biddings and sales at a public auction. Depending upon the venue, an auctioneer projects a sedate and cultivated demeanor, for example when conducting a public sale at a prestigious auction house such as Sotheby's. At farm and ranch auctions of equipment, livestock, and even land, on the other hand, auctioneers are loud, fast-talking men and women who excite the crowd into a frenzy of bidding with their evangelistic style of description, narration, and valuation.