ask Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb inquire about
    inquire; enquire.
    • I asked about their special today
    • He had to ask directions several times
  2. verb make a request or demand for something to somebody
    • She asked him for a loan
  3. verb direct or put; seek an answer to
    • ask a question
  4. verb consider obligatory; request and expect
    require; expect.
    • We require our secretary to be on time
    • Aren't we asking too much of these children?
    • I expect my students to arrive in time for their lessons
  5. verb address a question to and expect an answer from
    • Ask your teacher about trigonometry
    • The children asked me about their dead grandmother
  6. verb require as useful, just, or proper
    call for; require; necessitate; involve; need; take; demand; postulate.
    • It takes nerve to do what she did
    • success usually requires hard work
    • This job asks a lot of patience and skill
    • This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice
    • This dinner calls for a spectacular dessert
    • This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent
  7. verb require or ask for as a price or condition
    • He is asking $200 for the table
    • The kidnappers are asking a million dollars in return for the release of their hostage

WordNet

Ask transitive verb
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.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Asked present participle & verbal noun Asking
Definitions
  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.
  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.
Ask intransitive verb
Definitions
  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 noun
Etymology
See 2d Asker.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) A water newt. Scot. & North of Eng.

Webster 1913