The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Provoke \Pro*voke"\, v. i.
   1. To cause provocation or anger.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To appeal.

   Note: [A Latinism] [Obs.] --Dryden.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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.
   [1913 Webster]

         Obey his voice, provoke him not.         --Ex. xxiii.
                                                  21.
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         Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. --Eph.
                                                  vi. 4.
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         Such acts
         Of contumacy will provoke the Highest
         To make death in us live.                --Milton.
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         Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust? --Gray.
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         To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it,
         what it provokes in his own soul.        -- J.
                                                  Burroughs.
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   Syn: To irritate; arouse; stir up; awake; excite; incite;
        anger. See Irritate.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

provoke
    v 1: call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses); "arouse
         pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy" [syn: arouse,
         elicit, enkindle, kindle, evoke, fire, raise,
         provoke]
    2: evoke or provoke to appear or occur; "Her behavior provoked a
       quarrel between the couple" [syn: provoke, evoke, call
       forth, kick up]
    3: provide the needed stimulus for [syn: provoke, 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,
       provoke]