ask

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“
But if I were not boozed I couldn't ask--ask even for the job of gorse-grubbing or road sweeping.

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Definitions (36)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (14)

  1. transitive verb To put a question to: When we realized that we didn't know the answer, we asked the teacher.
  2. transitive verb To seek an answer to: ask a question.
  3. transitive verb To seek information about: asked directions.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

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Examples (50)

  • Performing evaluations using binary comparisons is straightforward: give the evaluator pairs of items and ask which is better according to some subjective metric.
  • Say it's in French, ask her to come over and help you understand it. —  FSF,September2005
  • Some people have questioned whether my ask was a little over the top i.e. greedy.
  • "Everything, I say, in order to do justice to your work, and you come, you dare to come to us, and ask--ask Gillier got up Madame, I see it is useless. —  The Way of Ambition
  • [_Rises._] None possesses a better claim to my favour--ask, and receive Everg. —  Speed the Plough A Comedy, In Five Acts; As Performed At The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

beg ·  tell

Used in the same contextWord Family

ask:   asking ·  asked ·  asks
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English asken, from Old English ācsian, āscian; see ais- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. English dial. also ax and ass (preterit ast); from Middle English asken, esken, assibilated ashen, assen, eshen, essen, transposed axen, acsen, acsien, oxien, from Anglo-Saxon āscian, often transposed ācsian, āxian, āhsian, = Old Saxon ēscōn = OFries. āskia = Dutch eischen = Old High German eiscōn, Middle High German eischen, German eischen, heischen = Swedish äska = Danish æske, ask (cf. Icelandic æskja, wish: see wish), = Old Bulgarian iskati = Bohemian jiskati = Russian iskatǐ = Lithuanian jeshkoti = Lettish ēskāt, seek; cf. Sanskrit √ ish, seek, desire.
  2. English dial. also asker, ascar, askerd, askard, from Middle English aske, spelled once arske, from Anglo-Saxon āthexe (found but once, in a gloss), apparently contr. from agithexe = Old Saxon egithassa = Old Dutch eggedisse, egdis, later heghdisse, haeghdisse, now hagedis, haagdis (simulating Dutch haag = English hay, hedge) = Old High German egidehsa, Middle High German egedehse, German eidechse, a newt; apparently a compound, but of uncertain formation; perhaps from Anglo-Saxon *agi, ege = Old Saxon egi = Old High German egi = Gothic (Moesogothic) agis, fear (see awe), + -thexe, Old High German -dehsa, representing a Teutonic √ *thaks, make, fashion (seen also in Old High German Middle High German dahs, German dachs, a badger, Old High German dehsala, Middle High German delisel, a hatchet, ax, in Greek τέκτων, a carpenter, artisan, τόξον, a bow, etc.: see tectonic, architect, toxic), = Sanskrit √ taksh, make, fashion; the sense ‘awe- or fear-maker’ suiting the popular dread of lizards and other reptiles.
 

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/æsk/
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