Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
verb (used with object), eked, ek·ing.
- to increase; enlarge; lengthen.
Verb Phrases
- eke out,
- to make (a living) or support (existence) laboriously: They managed to eke out a living by farming a small piece of land.
- to supplement; add to; stretch: to eke out an income with odd jobs.
adverb Archaic.
- also.
verb
- (tr) archaic to increase, enlarge, or lengthen
sentence connector
- archaic also; moreover
c.1200, eken “to increase, lengthen,” north England and E. Midlands variant of echen from Old English ecan, eacan, eacian “to increase,” probably from eaca “an increase,” from Proto-Germanic *aukan (cf. Old Norse auka, Old Frisian aka, Old High German ouhhon, Gothic aukan), from PIE *aug- “to increase” (see augment).
Now mainly in phrase to eke out (1590s). It means “to make something go further or last longer;” you can eke out your income by taking a second job, but you can’t eke out your existence. Related: Eked; eking.
“also” (obsolete), from Old English eac, cognate with Old Saxon, Old Dutch ok, Old Norse and Gothic auk, Old Frisian ak, Old High German ouh, German auch “also;” probably related to eke (v.).