Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Provoke \Pro*voke"\, v. i.
   1. To cause provocation or anger.

   2. To appeal.

   Note: [A Latinism] [Obs.] --Dryden.

Provoke \Pro*voke"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Provoked}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Provoking}.] [F. provoquer, L. provocare to call
   forth; pro forth + vocare to call, fr. vox, vocis, voice,
   cry, call. See {Voice}.]
   To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense
   to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition;
   hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a
   challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to
   irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate.

         Obey his voice, provoke him not.         --Ex. xxiii.
                                                  21.

         Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. --Eph.
                                                  vi. 4.

         Such acts Of contumacy will provoke the Highest To make
         death in us live.                        --Milton.

         Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust? --Gray.

         To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it,
         what it provokes in his own soul.        -- J.
                                                  Burroughs.

   Syn: To irritate; arouse; stir up; awake; excite; incite;
        anger. See {Irritate}.

Source : WordNet®

provoke
     v 1: call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses); "arouse
          pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy" [syn: {arouse},
           {elicit}, {enkindle}, {kindle}, {evoke}, {fire}, {raise}]
     2: call forth; "Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the
        couple" [syn: {evoke}, {call forth}, {kick up}]
     3: provide the needed stimulus for [syn: {stimulate}]
     4: annoy continually or chronically; "He is known to harry his
        staff when he is overworked"; "This man harasses his
        female co-workers" [syn: {harass}, {hassle}, {harry}, {chivy},
         {chivvy}, {chevy}, {chevvy}, {beset}, {plague}, {molest}]