Eke

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Eke \Eke\ ([=e]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Eked} ([=e]kt); p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Eking}.] [AS. [=e]kan, [=y]kan; akin to OFries.
     [=a]ka, OS. [=o]kian, OHG. ouhh[=o]n to add, Icel. auka to
     increase, Sw. ["o]ka, Dan. ["o]ge, Goth. aukan, L. augere,
     Skr. [=o]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.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           He eked out by his wits an income of barely fifty
           pounds.                                  --Macaulay.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]
     [1913 Webster]
  
           'T will be prodigious hard to prove
           That this is eke the throne of love.     --Prior.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           A trainband captain eke was he
           Of famous London town.                   --Cowper.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Eke serves less to unite than to render prominent a
           subjoined more important sentence or notion.
           --M[aum]tzner.
           [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Eke \Eke\, n.
     An addition. [R.]
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Clumsy ekes that may well be spared.     --Geddes.
     [1913 Webster]