asked

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of ask.

   He asked the witness several pointed questions during the trial.

   Reporters had asked about the budget cuts for weeks.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty here. It is the simple past (she asked), and it is also the past participle, which pairs with have for the perfect (has asked) and with be for the passive (was asked). Because ask can take two objects, either one can become the subject of a passive: he was asked a question, or a question was asked of him. The look-alike can't be asked belongs to the British "bothered" adjective, not to this passive.

2. 2
   adjectiveUK

   Bothered; willing to put in the effort to do something: a milder stand-in for "arsed," used chiefly in negative constructions such as "can't be asked."

   Honestly, I can't be asked to argue about it anymore.

   Nobody at the office could be asked to organize the party.

   Similarbothered

   Note

   A minced oath that works by sound. In Received Pronunciation, asked and arsed come out nearly alike, so the polite word can stand in for the rude one without losing the joke. It belongs to UK speech and lives almost entirely in the negative, as in can't be asked or couldn't be asked. Saying it keeps the shrug of the original while leaving out the swear word.

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