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First vs Ask - What's the difference?

first | ask |

As nouns the difference between first and ask

is that first is (uncountable) the person or thing in the first position or first can be (obsolete) time; time granted; respite while ask is an act or instance of asking or ask can be an eft; newt.

As a adjective first

is preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.

As a adverb first

is before anything else; firstly.

As a verb ask is

to request (information, or an answer to a question).

first

English

(wikipedia first)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), .

Alternative forms

* firste (archaic) * fyrst (obsolete) * fyrste (obsolete)

Adjective

(-)
  • Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
  • Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.
  • * 1784 : William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. , PREFACE
  • THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
    Alternative forms
    * ; (in names of monarchs and popes) I

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Before anything else; firstly.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.}}

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.
  • * 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
  • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • (uncountable) The first gear of an engine.
  • (countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
  • (countable, baseball) first base
  • (countable, British, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.
  • (countable, colloquial) A first-edition copy of some publication.
  • A fraction of an integer ending in one.
  • Derived terms

    * feet first * firstborn * first-class * first gear * first imperative (Latin grammar) * first of all * first place * first things first * first up

    See also

    * primary

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), (m), . See also (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) Time; time granted; respite.
  • Statistics

    *

    ask

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) asken, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To request (information, or an answer to a question).
  • I asked her age.
  • To put forward (a question) to be answered.
  • to ask a question
  • To interrogate or enquire of (a person).
  • I'm going to ask this lady for directions.
  • * Bible, John ix. 21
  • He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
  • To request or petition; usually with for .
  • to ask for a second helping at dinner
    to ask for help with homework
  • * Bible, Matthew vii. 7
  • Ask , and it shall be given you.
  • To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.
  • What price are you asking for the house?
  • * Addison
  • An exigence of state asks a much longer time to conduct a design to maturity.
  • To invite.
  • Don't ask them to the wedding.
  • To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons.
  • (Fuller)
  • (figuratively) To take (a person's situation) as an example.
  • *
  • Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See * Pronouncing ask as /æks/ is a common example of metathesis and a feature of some varieties of English, notably African American Vernacular English (AAVE). * The action expressed by the verb ask'' can also be expressed by the noun-verb combination ''pose a question'' (confer the parallel in German between ''fragen'' and ''eine Frage stellen ).
    Derived terms
    * ask after * ask around * ask for * ask in * ask out * ask over * ask round * for the asking * no questions asked * outask

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act or instance of asking.
  • * 2005 , Laura Fredricks, The ask :
  • To ask for a gift is a privilege, a wonderful expression of commitment to and ownership of the organization. Getting a yes to an ask can be a rush, but asking for the gift can and should be just as rewarding.
  • Something asked or asked for; a request.
  • * 2008 , Doug Fields, Duffy Robbins, Speaking to Teenagers :
  • Communication researchers call this the foot-in-the-door syndrome. Essentially it's based on the observation that people who respond positively to a small “ask'” are more likely to respond to a bigger “' ask ” later on.
  • An asking price.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) aske, arske, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An eft; newt.
  • * 1876 , S. Smiles, Scottish Naturalist :
  • He looked at the beast. It was not an eel. It was very like an ask .
  • A lizard.
  • Statistics

    *