Ask, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Asked; p. pr. & vb. n. Asking.]
Etymology: [OE. asken, ashen, axien, AS. ascian, acsian; akin to OS. escon, OHG. eiscon, Sw. aska, Dan. æske, D. eischen, G. heischen, Lith. jëskóti, OSlav. iskati to seek, Skr. ish to desire. 5.]
1. To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; - - often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God. Judg. xviii. 5. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John xv. 7.
2. To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity; as, what price do you ask Ask me never so much dowry. Gen. xxxiv. 12. To whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Luke xii. 48. An exigence of state asks a much longer time to conduct a design to maturity. Addison.
3. To interrogate or inquire of or concerning; to put a question to or about; to question. He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. John ix. 21. He asked the way to Chester. Shak.
4. To invite; as, to ask one to an entertainment.
2 more senses
5. To publish in church for marriage; -- said of both the banns and the persons. Fuller.
Syn. -- To beg; request; seek; petition; solicit; entreat; beseech; implore; crave; require; demand; claim; exhibit; inquire; interrogate. See Beg.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Ask, v. i.
1. To request or petition; -- usually folllowed by for; as, to ask for bread. Ask, and it shall be given you. Matt. vii. 7.
2. To make inquiry, or seek by request; -- sometimes followed by after. Wherefore . . . dost ask after my name Gen. xxxii. 29.
Ask, n.
(Zoöl.)
A water newt. [Scot. & North of Eng.]
Shades of meaning
One asks what he feels that he may fairly claim and reasonably expect; "if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father," Luke xi, 11; he begs for that to which he advances no claim but pity. Demand is a determined and often an arrogant word; one may rightfully demand what is his own or his due, when it is withheld or denied; or he may wrongfully demand that to which he has no claim but power. Require is less arrogant and obtrusive than demand, but is exceedingly strenuous; as, the court requires the attendance of witnesses. Entreat implies a special earnestness of asking, and beseech, a still added and more humble intensity; beseech was formerly often used as a polite intensive for beg or pray; as, I beseech you to tell me. To implore is to ask with weeping and lamentation; to supplicate is to ask, as it were, on bended knees. Crave and request are somewhat formal terms; crave has almost disappeared from conversation; request would seem distant between parent and child. Pray is now used chiefly of address to the Supreme Being; petition is used of written request to persons in authority; as, to petition the legislature to pass an act, or the governor to pardon an offender.
Prepositions
Ask a person for a thing; ask a thing of or from a person; ask after or about one's health, welfare, friends, etc.