What is "ask"

I.verbII.noun

Ask \Ask\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Asked; p. pr. & vb. n. Asking.] [OE. asken, ashen, axien, AS. [=a]scian, [=a]csian; akin to OS. [=e]sc[=o]n, OHG. eisc[=o]n, Sw. [=a]ska, Dan. [ae]ske, D. eischen, G. heischen, Lith. j["e]sk['o]ti, OSlav. iskati to seek, Skr. ish to desire.

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 \Ask\, v. i.

1. To request or petition; -- usually followed 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 \Ask\, n. [See 2d Asker.] (Zo["o]l.) A water newt. [Scot. & North of Eng.]

Old English ascian "ask, call for an answer; make a request," from earlier ahsian, from Proto-Germanic *aiskon (cognates: Old Saxon escon, Old Frisian askia "request, demand, ask," Middle Dutch eiscen, Dutch eisen "to ask, demand," Old High German eiscon "to ask (a question)," German heischen "to ask, demand"), from PIE *ais- "to wish, desire" (cognates: Sanskrit icchati "seeks, desires," Armenian aic "investigation," Old Church Slavonic iskati "to seek," Lithuanian ieškau "to seek").\n

\nForm in English influenced by a Scandinavian cognate (such as Danish æske; the Old English would have evolved by normal sound changes into ash, esh, which was a Midlands and southwestern England dialect form). Modern dialectal ax is as old as Old English acsian and was an accepted literary variant until c.1600. Related: Asked; asking. Old English also had fregnan/frignan which carried more directly the sense of "question, inquire," and is from PIE root *prek-, the common source of words for "ask" in most Indo-European languages (see pray). If you ask me "in my opinion" is attested from 1910. Asking price is attested from 1755.

Etymology 1 n. 1 An act or instance of asking. 2 Something asked or asked for; a request. 3 An asking price. vb. 1 To request (information, or an answer to a question). 2 To put forward (a question) to be answered. 3 To interrogate or enquire of (a person). 4 To request or petition; usually with ''for''. 5 To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity. 6 To invite. 7 To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons. 8 (context figuratively English) To take (a person's situation) as an example. Etymology 2

alt. 1 (context UK dialectal and Scotland English) An eft; newt. 2 (context UK dialectal English) A lizard. n. 1 (context UK dialectal and Scotland English) An eft; newt. 2 (context UK dialectal English) A lizard.

1. v. inquire about; "I asked about their special today"; "He had to ask directions several times" [syn: inquire, enquire]

2. make a request or demand for something to somebody; "She asked him for a loan"

3. direct or put; seek an answer to; "ask a question"

4. consider obligatory; request and 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" [syn: require, expect]

5. require or ask for as a price or condition; "He is asking $200 for the table"; "The kidnapers are asking a million dollars in return for the release of their hostage"

6. address a question to and expect an answer from; "Ask your teacher about trigonometry"; "The children asked me about their dead grandmother"

7. require as useful, just, or proper; "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 postulates a patient's consent" [syn: necessitate, postulate, need, require, take, involve, call for, demand] [ant: obviate]

ASK may refer to:

Communication

• Amplitude-shift keying, a type of signal modulation

Organisations

• The American School of Kuwait
• ASK Group, a software company
• ASK Italian, UK restaurant chain
• FK ASK, a Latvian former football club
• ASK Riga, Latvian basketball club
• Alpha Sigma Kappa, a sorority for women in technical studies

Places

• Askam-in-Furness railway station, UK National Rail code

Chemistry

• ASK1, apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1

Transport

• Available seat kilometre, an airline's passenger carrying capacity
• A series of glider aircraft by the German manufacturer Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co
  • ASK 13 (Two-seat trainer)
  • ASK 14 (Single-seat touring motor glider)
  • ASK 16 (Two-seat touring motor glider)
  • ASK 18 (Club Class)
  • ASK 21 (Glass fibre two-seat trainer)
  • ASK 23 (Glass fibre Club Class)

See also

• Ask (disambiguation)

de:Ask

"Ask" is a song by The Smiths. It was released as a single in October 1986, reaching No. 14 in the UK Singles Chart. As with most of The Smiths' singles, it was not included on an original album. It can be found on the compilations The World Won't Listen and Louder Than Bombs as well as the live album Rank, where it is introduced as the band's new single. The UK cover shows Yootha Joyce on the set of the 1965 film Catch Us If You Can. The song features Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals. In 1995, the single was reissued, reaching No. 62 in the UK Singles Chart.

There are two versions of this song. The version that appears on the single releases and the album The Very Best of The Smiths fades out slightly sooner and has the vocal track lasting until the end of the song. The backing vocals in this version are also mixed differently and are louder. The version that appears on all albums (save for the one listed above) fades out later (though the end of the track is audible, albeit at a very low level) and has the vocal track ending before the fade begins.

Craig Gannon, one-time rhythm guitarist for The Smiths has stated that he came up with some of the guitar part for "Ask" during his short stint as a member of the band:

"Me and Johnny were sat in the library playing acoustic guitars and they must have been miked up as we were probably putting down the acoustic tracks for 'Panic'. I just started playing the chord sequence which would later become 'Ask' in exactly the way it appears on the record. Johnny then joined in playing the same... I then forgot about the idea and left it at that... Johnny must have played Morrissey this idea or given him the recording I already mentioned. I was completely surprised as we were now recording this for the next single. The only section of the chord structure that I didn't come up with for 'Ask' was the middle eight section with the chords E-minor, D and C. That was actually what Johnny came up with. All the way through the song there is an overdub with me and Johnny sat around a mike with acoustics, playing a riff that he came up with towards the end of the recording of the song. That is a great riff and a real hook but it was still just an overdub and I felt the song was nearly complete without it. Up until the release of 'Ask' I still thought I'd be given a writing credit. When I found that I wasn't given a writing credit, it didn't really bother me, but I thought it was pretty bad that no one even acknowledged that it was my idea in the first place."

Ask (foaled 23 March 2003) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Unraced as a two-year-old, he showed some promise as a three-year-old in 2006, winning one minor race and finishing fourth in the St Leger. He improved in the following year despite running only three races: he won the Ormonde Stakes and the Cumberland Lodge Stakes and was narrowly beaten in the Canadian International Stakes. He won the Gordon Richards Stakes in 2008 but reached his peak as a six-year-old in the following year, winning the Yorkshire Cup, Coronation Cup and Prix Royal Oak as well as finishing third in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. After a single, unsuccessful start in 2010 his racing career was ended by injury. He was then retired to become a National Hunt stallion in Ireland.