I. To seek, to seek to obtain any thing (ante-class.): “quaeso, ut significat idem, quod rogo, ita quaesere ponitur ab antiquis pro quaerere,” Fest. p. 258 Müll.: nautisque mari quaesentibus vitam, Enn. ap. Fest. l. l: quaese adveniente morbo nunc medicum tibi, Plaut. ap. Non. 44, 30. —
II. To beg, pray, beseech, entreat (class.; mostly in first pers. sing.; syn.: rogo, oro, obsecro, peto, precor).
(α).
With ut: Mars pater, te precor quaesoque, uti sies volens propitius mihi, etc., an ancient formula of prayer in Cato, R. R. 141, 2: “aliquem ut redeat,” Plaut. Bacch. 2, 2, 1: “te, Juppiter, quaeso, Amphitruoni ut semper iratus sies,” id. Am. 3, 2, 52; id. Rud. 4, 7, 30; id. Trin. 1, 2, 52: “deos, ut,” Ter. Ad. 2, 4, 11; Naev. ap. Donat. ad Ter. Ad. 4, 1, 5: “peto quaesoque, ut, etc.,” Cic. Fam. 5, 4, 2: “quaeso, ut eum diem memoriae mandetis,” id. Quint. 6, 24: “a te quaeso et peto, ut, etc.,” id. Fam. 3, 2, 1: “quaeso a vobis, ut, in hac causā, etc.,” id. Arch. 2, 3: “quaeso, hercle, ut liceat,” Ter. Eun. 3, 2, 13; Caecil. ap. Non. 154, 13; 515, 1: “quaeso obtestorque, ne,” Cic. Red. in Sen. 1, 1; Liv. 10, 13: “id uti permittatis, quaesumus,” id. 28, 39: “precor quaesoque, ne, etc.,” id. 23, 9, 2. —
(γ).
Absol. (thrown parenthetically into the sentence): quaeso, quaesumus, I (or we) pray, beg, beseech; freq. as a mere intensive expression, prithee: “quaeso, quotiens dicendumst tibi?” Plaut. Most. 4, 2, 33: “ubinam est, quaeso?” Ter. Heaut. 3, 1, 21: “bona verba, quaeso,” id. And. 1, 2, 33: “tu, quaeso, crebro ad me scribe,” Cic. Att. 7, 10, 10: “nunc eadem illa, quaeso, audite,” Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 46, § 102: “ipsum decretum, quaeso, cognoscite,” id. Rosc. Am. 9, 25; id. Att. 7, 1, 2; 12, 29, 1; 12, 30, 2; 12, 35, 2; “12, 44, 3: hoc, quaeso, judices, diligenter attendite,” id. Quint. 9, 2, 56; id. Mil. 9, 23; id. Att. 15, 8, 2: “quid, quaeso, interest inter unum et plures, si, etc.,” id. Rep. 1, 39, 61: “quamobrem aggredere, quaesumus, etc.,” id. Leg. 1, 2, 6: quaeso, etiamne tu has ineptias, I beseech you, for Heaven's sake, id. Fam. 3, 7, 5. —