different between asking vs basking

English

Etymology

From Middle English asking, askyng, askynge, from Old English ?scung (“asking; question; inquiry”), equivalent to ask +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æsk??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???sk??/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /?ask??/
• (NYC, Philadelphia) IPA^(key): /?e?sk??/
• (AAVE) IPA^(key): /?æks??/

Verb

asking

1. present participle of ask

Noun

asking (plural askings)

1. The act or process of posing a question or making a request.

   His asking was greeted with silence.

2. (rare in the singular) A request, or petition.
   • 2005, The Woman's Book of Resilience: 12 Qualities to Cultivate, by Beth Miller - Page 125

     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.

3. (in the plural) The marriage banns.

Usage notes

• Normally found in plural, or in set phrases such as for the asking.

Adjective

asking (comparative more asking, superlative most asking)

1. That asks; that expresses a question or request.
   • 1924, Edna Ferber, So Big, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter , p. 109,^[1]

     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.

   • 1942, Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road, New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1969, Chapter 12, p. 235,^[2]

     […] all of them looked at each other in an asking way.

Derived terms

• askingly
• asking price

Anagrams

• Gaskin, aksing, gaskin, kiangs

Middle English

Noun

asking

1. Alternative form of askynge

English

Verb

basking

1. present participle of bask

Derived terms

• basking shark

Noun

basking (plural baskings)

1. The act of one who basks.

Anagrams

• bakings