Meaning

noun an authoritative direction or instruction to do something

noun an attempt to get something

noun a formal proposal to buy at a specified price

originFrom Middle English bidden, from Old English biddan (“to ask, demand”), from Proto-West Germanic *biddjan, from Proto-Germanic *bidjaną (“to ask”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰedʰ-. Conflated with Old English bēodan (“to offer, announce”) (see Etymology 2 below). Compare West Frisian bidde, Low German bidden, Dutch bidden ("to pray"), German bitten, Danish bede, Norwegian Bokmål be.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0