(ask, äsk) v.t.
1. To put a question to: Don’t ask me.
2. To put a question about; inquire after: to ask someone the time.
3. To make a request for; solicit: to ask advice.
4. To need or require: This job asks more of me than I can give.
5. To state the price of; demand: They are asking three dollars a plate.
6. To invite: Were many guests asked?
7. Archaic To publish or proclaim, as the banns of marriage in a church.
—v.i.
8. To make inquiries: with for, after, or about.
9. To make a request: How often must I ask? [OE āscian]
—ask′er noun
—ask′ing noun Synonyms: beg, beseech, crave, demand, entreat, implore, petition, plead, pray, request, require, solicit, supplicate. One asks what he feels that he may fairly claim and reasonably expect; he begs for that to which he advances no claim but pity. Entreat implies a special earnestness of asking, and beseech, a still added and more humble intensity. To supplicate is to ask, as it were, on bended knees; to implore, with the added force of tears. Crave and request are somewhat formal terms; crave has almost disappeared from conversation. Pray is now used chiefly of address to the Supreme Being; petition is used of written request to persons in authority. Beg and pray are often used in polite forms of slight request; beseech was formerly so used. Compare DEMAND, INQUIRE. Antonyms: claim, command, deny, enforce, exact, extort, insist, refuse.

(äsk)
In Norse mythology, the first man, made from a tree by Odin, Hœner, and Loder.