ASKING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does asking mean? 

• ASKING (noun)
  The noun ASKING has 1 sense:

1. the verbal act of requesting

  Familiarity information: ASKING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASKING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The verbal act of requesting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

asking; request

Hypernyms ("asking" is a kind of...):

speech act (the use of language to perform some act)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "asking"):

notice; notification (a request for payment)

indirect request; wish (an expression of some desire or inclination)

invitation (a request (spoken or written) to participate or be present or take part in something)

appeal; entreaty; prayer (earnest or urgent request)

orison; petition; prayer (reverent petition to a deity)

call (a request)

billing; charge (request for payment of a debt)

trick or treat (a request by children on Halloween; they pass from door to door asking for goodies and threatening to play tricks on those who refuse)

inquiring; questioning (a request for information)

order (a request for something to be made, supplied, or served)

callback; recall (a request by the manufacturer of a defective product to return the product (as for replacement or repair))

 Context examples 

In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at the door asking questions.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The latter was again on the verge of asking his name, when Messner remarked: This Dr. Womble, I've heard he was very handsome, and—er—quite a success, so to say, with the ladies.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

One is to a firm in the City, the other is to the young lady’s stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking him whether he could meet us here at six o’clock to-morrow evening.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What did I mean by asking questions?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I resisted all these overtures, and sat there in desperation; each time asking him, with tears in my eyes, for my money or my jacket.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Now, Laurie flattered himself that he had borne it remarkably well, making no moan, asking no sympathy, and taking his trouble away to live it down alone.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I was bewildered; it seemed a thing so hopeless he was asking—he, the old buccaneer, the ringleader throughout.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

From this he was recalled by Mr. Utterson asking rather suddenly: “And you don’t know if the drawer of the cheque lives there?”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I am asking if the patient has a persistent and abnormally good mood or finds humor where others do not.

(NPI - Seem Too Cheerful or Too Happy for No Reason, NCI Thesaurus)