From Middle English askinge, askande, from Old English āsciende, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōndī, present participle of Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn (“to ask”), equivalent to ask + -ing.
Meanings
That asks; that expresses a question or request.
It was as when some great gentle dog brings in a limp and bedraggled prize dug from the yard and, laying it at one’s feet, looks up at one with soft asking eyes. 1924, Edna Ferber, So Big, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 109:
He stepped to me while taking purchase on the handrail and looked through me with an asking look; finally he added with a sardonic smile. "I know now that you feel; hatred coming from deep." 2015, Agnes Toth, The Guardian of Power, page 124:
[…] all of them looked at each other in an asking way. 1942, Zora Neale Hurston, chapter 12, in Dust Tracks on a Road, New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, published 1969, page 235:
From Middle English askinge, askande, from Old English āsciende, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōndī, present participle of Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn (“to ask”), equivalent to ask + -ing.
Meanings
(form-of, participle, present) present participle of ask
From Middle English asking, askyng, askynge, from Old English āscung (“asking; question; inquiry”), from Proto-West Germanic *aiskungu, equivalent to ask + -ing.
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) The act or process of posing a question or making a request.
His asking was greeted with silence.
The large eyes sought his own, as if asking for help, and yet unable to do more than look their mute asking. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “An Evening Alone”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 303:
Form's silent asking, man's loving speech, the mute proclamation of the creature, are all gates leading into the presence of the Word. 1923, Martin Buber, I and Thou:
If someone asks for love he will not get love, because the very asking makes him unlovely, ugly; the very fact of asking becomes the barrier. 2023, Osho, Meditation: The Art of Ecstasy, page 89:
(countable, rare, singular, uncountable) A request, or petition.
After many askings, pleadings, and episodes, all leading to nothing, she finally slumped down at the side of a well in a village where she was unknown. 2005, Beth Miller, The Woman's Book of Resilience: 12 Qualities to Cultivate, page 125:
(countable, in-plural, uncountable) The marriage banns.