I was reading Meaning of “ask of” when I lighted upon this issue:
This meaning of ask (definition 7) is mentioned in the OALD:
7. ask something of somebody =
[transitive] to expect or demand something …
Question 1. I ask not about the definition which I tolerate, but about how to decompose/derive/parse it?
How does the juxtaposition of ask and of effect/imply/induce definition 7?
Update 2014 Jan 17: I wrongly guessed ODO's Definition 3 as the definition of of here. Proof removed.
Best Answer
This is a phrasal verb. Quoted from Wikipedia, (primary source cited from here):
One must learn the definition of phrasal verbs like one would learn the definition of single words. There are guides that help group them in various ways, but there are lots of exceptions as well.