▪ I. asker1
(ˈɑːskə(r), æ-)
Also askere, axere, etc.: see ask v.
[f. ask v. + -er1.]
One who asks.
1. A questioner, inquirer.
| 1388 Wyclif Ezek. xiv. 10 Bi the wickidnesse of the axere, so the wickidnesse of the prophete shal be. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 69 After þe wickydnes of þe ascar schal be þe wichidnes of þe prophet. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 22 The answers..were euer darke and deceyued the axer. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1851) 229 The trope of indignation, fittest account for such askers. 1749 G. Lavington Enthus. (1754) ii. 155 Curious Beholders and Askers of impertinent Questions. 1886 J. J. Wright Little Asker viii. 187 For every boy and girl..is only a little asker, made of such mind and spirit as can live, and learn. 1925 Chesterton Everlasting Man i. viii. 183 The sages had degenerated..into hired rhetoricians or askers of riddles. |
2. One who asks favours, gifts, etc.; a suppliant; one who asks alms, a professional beggar.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 6676 Many a man That yeveth his good for..he Wolde of the asker delyvered be. 1569 J. Sandford Agrippa's Van. Artes 91 So many presumptuouse monie askers. a 1631 Donne Ess. Divin. (1651) 145 Love an Asker better than a Giver. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy bk. Prop. Law xxv. 189 Each asking of leave is an admission that, at the time, the asker had no right. 1883 R. Burton & Cameron Gold Coast I. iii. 60 They beg with a good grace, and not with a curse or an insult like the European ‘asker’ when refused. |
† 3. A prosecutor, plaintiff; an exactor, oppressor. Obs.
| c 1375 Eng. Guilds 361 And þat commune law hym be y-entred, þe axere and þe defendaunt. Ibid. 362 Of plee of dette..ȝif þat þe axkere bryngeþ skore oþer wryt. 1382 Wyclif Job iii. 18 Thei herden not the vois of the askere [1611 oppressour]. 1483 Cath. Angl., An Asker wrangwysly, exactor. |
▪ II. ˈasker2
Also 7 ascar.
[f. ask n.2 with suffix of uncertain origin; also altered to askerd, ascard, askal, asgal, asgil.]
Common name of the newt in the west midland counties of England.
In the following Dialect Glossaries: Craven (Asker, Askard), Mid Yorksh. (Ask, aisk, or askerd), Lancash., Shropsh. (Asker, askal, asgal), West Worcester (Asgill), Dorset (Phil. Soc. Trans. 1864, 41).
| 1674 Ray N. Countr. Wds., Asker; a Newt, or Eft. 1677 J. Webster Witchcr. xii. 242 Strange vomitings up of Frogs, lizards, askers and the like..attributed to witchcraft. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 252 It differs in colour from all the Newts or Ascars that ever I saw. 1755 Johnson, Asker a water newt. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) IV. xxvii. 126 A Newt or an Asker, or some such detested reptile. |
▪ III. asker
obs. form of eschar, a scab.