Q:

'of' as in "ask questions of somebody"

I would like to ask about of in the following passage, which is the definition for interrogate on Google's dictionary.

ask questions of someone closely, aggressively, or formally.

I also looked up the definition for of but as the preposition is so versatile and has so many definitions that I have come to ask a question here.
In my theory, it can be equivalent to the following two possible interpretations.

ask (questions of someone) → ask questions about someone
(ask questions) of someone → ask questions from someone

Any explanations will be appreciated. Thank you.

A:

To ask questions of someone is to direct questions at or to that person. Regarding your definition (2) - we don't "ask questions from" people. 

