ask

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To put a question to: When we realized that we didn't know the answer, we asked the teacher.
2. v. To seek an answer to: ask a question.
3. v. To seek information about: asked directions.
4. v. To make a request of: asked me for a loan.
5. v. To make a request for. Often used with an infinitive or clause: ask a favor of a friend; asked to go along on the trip; asked that he be allowed to stay out late.
6. v. To require or call for as a price or condition: asked ten dollars for the book.
7. v. To expect or demand: ask too much of a child.
8. v. To invite: asked them to dinner.
9. v. Archaic To publish, as marriage banns.
10. v. To make inquiry; seek information.
11. v. To make a request: asked for help.
12. idiom. it Informal To persist in an action despite the likelihood that it will result in difficulty or punishment.
13. idiom. ask out To invite (someone) to a social engagement.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To request; seek by words to obtain; petition for: commonly with of, in the sense of from, before the person to whom the request is made.
2. To demand, expect, or claim: with for: as, what price do you ask, or ask for it?
3. To solicit from; request of: with a personal object, and with or without for before the thing desired: as, I ask you a great favor; to ask one for a drink of water.
4. To require as necessary or useful; demand; exact.
5. To interrogate or inquire of; put a question to.
6. To inquire concerning; seek to be informed about: as, to ask the way; to ask a question.
7. To invite: as, to ask guests to a wedding or entertainment.
8. and Ask, Inquire, Question, Interrogate. Ask is here also the generic word; it is simple and informal. Inquire may be used in the endeavor to be civil, or it may express a more minute examination into facts: as, to inquire (into, as to) the causes of discontent. To question in this sense implies the asking of a series of questions, it being supposed that the truth is hard to get at, through ignorance, reluctance, etc., in the person questioned. Interrogate is essentially the same as question, but more formal: as, to question a child or servant about his conduct; to interrogate a witness, an applicant for office, etc. Questioning or interrogation might be resented where asking, asking a question, or inquiring would meet with a friendly response.
9. To request or petition: with for before the thing requested: as, ask for bread.
10. To inquire or make inquiry; put a question: often followed by after or about, formerly also by of.
11. n. A newt.

Wiktionary

1. v. To look for an answer to a question by speaking.
2. v. To approach someone to do something.
3. n. An act or instance of asking.
4. n. Something asked or asked for; a request.
5. n. An eft; newt.
6. n. A lizard.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; -- often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed.
2. v. 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?
3. v. To interrogate or inquire of or concerning; to put a question to or about; to question.
4. v. To invite.
5. v. To publish in church for marriage; -- said of both the banns and the persons.
6. v. To request or petition; -- usually followed by for.
7. v. To make inquiry, or seek by request; -- sometimes followed by after.
8. n. (Zoöl.), Scot. & North of Eng. A water newt.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make a request or demand for something to somebody
2. v. direct or put; seek an answer to
3. v. address a question to and expect an answer from
4. v. consider obligatory; request and expect
5. v. require or ask for as a price or condition
6. v. inquire about
7. v. require as useful, just, or proper