ask for

verb

1. to try to obtain by requesting

   he asked for help

2. informal,  (intr) to behave in a provocative manner that is regarded as inviting (trouble)

   she's asking for trouble

   you're asking for it

3. to ask after

   tell your parents I'm asking for them

Idioms and Phrases

Also, ask for it. To persist in an action despite the likelihood that it will bring trouble on oneself, as in Speeding as much as he does, he has been asking for a ticket and Mary deserved that low grade; in effect, she asked for it by not studying. [c. 1900] Also see ask for the moon.

Related Words

• assert 
• call for 
• claim 
• confront 
• defy 
• demand 
• denounce 
• impose 
• require 
• test 
• try