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To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; - - often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God. Judg. xviii. 5. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John xv. 7.…

One who aspires; one who eagerly seeks some high position or object of attainment. In consequence of the resignations . . . the way to greatness was left clear to a new set of aspirants. Macaulay.

To desire with eagerness; to seek to attain something high or great; to pant; to long; -- followed by to or after, and rarely by at; as, to aspire to a crown; to aspire after immorality. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; Aspiring to be angels, men rebel. Pope.

. [Obs.] Pope. To avail one's self of, to make use of; take advantage of. Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names. Milton. I have availed myself of the very first opportunity. Dickens.

A seeking for or gathering of berries, esp. of such as grow wild.

ivory balls o a cloth-covered, rectangular table, bounded by elastic cushions. The player seeks to impel his ball with his cue so that it shall either strike (carom upon) two other balls, or drive another ball into one of the pockets with which the table sometimes is furnished.

Hence: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve. [R.] B. Jonson.

Intense, direct light accompanied with heat; as, to seek shelter from the blaze of the sun. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! Milton.

To seek after plants for botanical investigation; to study plants.

devise. Leigh Hunt. Man may . . . render himself brutish, but it is in vain that he would seek to take the rank and density of the brute. I. Taylor.

an empty project; a dishonest speculation; as, the South Sea bubble. Then a soldier . . . Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. Shak.

which terrifies. [Obs.] Sir, spare your threats: The bug which you would fright me with I seek. Shak.

A separate, private, or obscure street; an out of the way or cross street. He seeks by-streets, and saves the expensive coach. Gay.

or to prevent a chang in prices. A cabal is a secret association of a few individuals who seek by cunning practices to obtain office and power. A faction is a larger body than a cabal, employed for selfish purposes in agitating the community and working up an excitement with a view to change the existing order of thing…

Eating or feeding on flesh. The term is applied: (a) to animals which naturally seek flesh for food, as the tiger, dog, etc.; (b) to plants which are supposed to absorb animal food; (c) to substances which destroy animal tissue, as caustics.

An adventurer; -- a term of contempt for a Northern man seeking private gain or political advancement in the southern part of the United States after the Civil War (1865). [U. S.]

upheld by a person or party; a principle which is advocated; that which a person or party seeks to attain. God befriend us, as our cause is just. Shak. The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause. Burke. Efficient cause, the agent or force that produces a change or redult. -- Final cause, the end, design,…

ment pursuit for the purpose of killing or capturing, as of an enemy, or game; an earnest seeking after any object greatly desired; the act or habit of hunting; a hunt. "This mad chase of fame." Dryden. You see this chase is hotly followed. Shak.

To ask for, or seek to obtain, by virtue of authority, right, or supposed right; to challenge as a right; to demand as due.

Intimate; familiar; confidential. League with you I seek And mutual amity, so strait, so close, That I with you must dwell, or you with me. Milton.