request

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Asking for

Nouns

1. request, requisition, petition, plea, suit, prayer; motion, overture, application, proposition, proposal, offer, canvass, address, appeal, apostrophe, orison, incantation; prayer (see worship). Slang, touch, shakedown, bite. See pursuit, inquiry.

2. (ways of asking for money) mendicancy; asking, begging, postulation, solicitation, invitation, entreaty, importunity, beseechment, supplication, imploration, obtestation, invocation, interpellation; fund raising, telethon, radiothon; charity case. Slang, sponging.

3. (one who asks for money) requester, petitioner, cadger, beggar, solicitor, canvasser, door-to-door salesman; applicant, supplicant, suitor, demander, importuner; bidder, asker. Informal, sponger. Slang, moocher, freeloader, panhandler, schnorrer.

Verbs

1. request, ask, beg, crave; sue, pray, petition, solicit; invite, beg, beg leave, crave or ask a boon; speak for, apply to, call upon, call for, commandeer, enlist, requisition, ask a favor; coax (see flattery).

2. entreat, beseech, plead, conjure, supplicate, implore, adjure, cry to, kneel to, appeal to; invoke, ply, press, urge, beset, importune, dun, cry for help; raise money; hound; whistle for. Informal, buttonhole. Slang, put the bite, sting, or touch on; fly a kite, spange, hit on.

3. (ways of asking for money) beg from door to door, go a-begging, cadge, pass the hat. Informal, sponge. Slang, mooch, panhandle, freeload.

Adjectives

1. requesting, precatory, suppliant, supplicant, supplicatory.

2. importunate, clamorous, urgent, cap in hand, on bended knee, on one's knees.

Adverbs — prithee, do, please, pray, be so good as, be good enough, if you please, for the asking.

Quotations — Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Bible), In an examination those who do not wish to know ask questions of those who cannot tell (Sir Walter Raleigh), Animals are such agreeable friends — they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms (George Eliot), Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country ( John F. Kennedy).

Antonyms, see offer.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. call, inquiry, application, petition, question, invitation, offer, solicitation, requisition, supplication, plea, prayer, recourse, suit, entreaty, demand, behest; see also appeal 1 .

• by request,

Syn. asked for, sought for, wanted, in response to a request; see requested 1 , 2 .

v.

1. [To ask]

Syn. demand, inquire, call for; see ask 1 .

2. [To solicit]

Syn. beseech, entreat, petition, sue; see beg 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

petition, solicitation, question, application, want, desire, behest, plea, demand.

II

v.

ask, petition, solicit, apply, appeal for, seek, *put in for, beg, demand.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb To endeavor to obtain (something) by expressing one's needs or desires: ask (for), seek, solicit. See REQUEST.