ask

Meanings

Verb

• To request (information, or an answer to a question).
• To put forward (a question) to be answered.
• To interrogate or enquire of (a person).
• To request or petition; usually with for.
• To request permission to do something.
• To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.
• To invite.
• To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons.
• To take (a person's situation) as an example.

Noun

• An act or instance of asking.
• Something asked or asked for.
• An asking price.
• An eft; newt.
• A lizard.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• beg, beseech, demand, enquire, entreat, frain, implore, interrogate, petition, prompt, query, question, request, solicit, supplicate

Origin

• From Middle English asken (also esken, aschen, eschen, etc.), from Old English āscian, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys-. Compare German heischen, Dutch eisen.
• From Middle English aske, arske, ascre, from Old English āþexe ("lizard, newt"), from Proto-West Germanic *agiþahsijā ("lizard"), a compound of *agiz + *þahsuz. Cognate of German Echse ("lizard").