Adjacent Words

Eke definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EKE, v.t. [L. augeo.]
1. To increase; to enlarge; as, to eke a store of provisions.
2. To add to; to supply what is wanted; to enlarge by addition; sometimes with out; as, to eke or eke out a piece of cloth; to eke out a performance.
3. To lengthen; to prolong; as, to eke out the time.
EKE, adv. [L. ac, and also.] Also, likewise; in addition.
'Twill be prodigious hard to prove,
That this is eke the throne of love.
[This word is nearly obsolete, being used only in poetry of the familiar and ludicrous kind.]

Merriam Webster's

I. adverb Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ?ac; akin to Old High German ouh also, Latin aut or, Greek au again Date: before 12th century archaic also II. transitive verb (eked; eking) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ?ecan, ?can; akin to Old High German ouhh?n to add, Latin aug?re to increase, Greek auxein Date: before 12th century 1. archaic increase, lengthen 2. to get with great difficulty — usually used with out <eke out a living>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. Phrases and idioms: eke out 1 (foll. by with, by) supplement; make the best use of (defective means etc.). 2 contrive to make (a livelihood) or support (an existence). Etymology: OE eacan, rel. to L augere increase

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Eke Eke, adv. [AS. e['a]c; akin to OFries. ['a]k, OS. ?k, D. ?ok, OHG. ouh, G. auch, Icel. auk, Sw. och and, Dan. og, Goth. auk for, but. Prob. from the preceding verb.] In addition; also; likewise. [Obs. or Archaic] 'T will be prodigious hard to prove That this is eke the throne of love. --Prior. A trainband captain eke was he Of famous London town. --Cowper. Note: Eke serves less to unite than to render prominent a subjoined more important sentence or notion. --M["a]tzner.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Eke Eke, n. An addition. [R.] Clumsy ekes that may well be spared. --Geddes.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Eke Eke ([=e]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Eked; p. pr. & vb. n. Eking.] [AS. [=e]kan, [=y]kan; akin to OFries, [=a]ka, OS. ?kian, OHG. ouhh[=o]n to add, Icel. auka to increase, Sw. ["o]ka, Dan. ["o]ge, Goth. aukan, L. augere, Skr. ?jas strength, ugra mighty, and probably to English wax, v. i. Cf. Augment, Nickname.] To increase; to add to; to augment; -- now commonly used with out, the notion conveyed being to add to, or piece out by a laborious, inferior, or scanty addition; as, to eke out a scanty supply of one kind with some other. ``To eke my pain.'' --Spenser. He eked out by his wits an income of barely fifty pounds. --Macaulay.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(ekes, eking, eked) If you eke a living or eke out an existence, you manage to survive with very little money. That forced peasant farmers to try to eke a living off steep hillsides ... He was eking out an existence on a few francs a day. PHRASE: V inflects

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