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.
verb
- (tr) archaic to increase, enlarge, or lengthen
sentence connector
- archaic also; moreover
“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.).
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.