eke

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“
Thus, to eke out any thing, signifies to lengthen it beyond its just dimensions, by some low artifice; because the word eke was the usual refuge of our old writers, when they wanted a syllable.

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Definitions (14)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. transitive verb To supplement with great effort. Used with out: eked out an income by working two jobs.
  2. transitive verb To get with great effort or strain. Used with out: eke a bare existence from farming in an arid area.
  3. transitive verb To make (a supply) last by practicing strict economy. Used with out.
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Examples (50)

  • I do beseech   thee have a care to tell the fair princesses and glorious ladies   that I am in very truth a courteous knight and learned eke, and that   I shall neither taste food nor wine until I have slain the evil   enchanter that did so foully bewitch me. —  Eugene Field, A Study In Heredity And Contradictions, v2
  • Tantric added: now uses SNES 1.51 core (thanks to eke-eke for help with this) added: cheats menu! —  QJ.NET
  • They began thus to watch in the passion wéeke, and so continued till a certeine time after Easter. —  Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (6 of 12) Richard the First
  • Paris._] The last time of those their meetings was in the Whitsunwéeke, at what time the French king required not onelie to haue his sister Alice deliuered vnto earle Richard for wife, according to the former couenants, but also some assurance giuen vnto the same earle Richard, that he should inherit his fathers lands after his deceasse. —  Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (5 of 12) Henrie the Second
  • I do beseech thee have a care to tell the fair princesses and glorious ladies that I am in very truth a courteous knight and learned eke, and that I shall neither taste food nor wine until I have slain the evil enchanter that did so foully bewitch me. —  Eugene Field, a Study in Heredity and Contradictions — Volume 2
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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English eken, to increase, from Old English ēcan; see aug- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English, from Old English ēac, ēc.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Early modern English also eeke, eek; from Middle English eken, also assibilated echen (later English dial. etch), from Anglo-Saxon ēcan y¯can, īcan, (preterit ēcte, past participle ēced) (= Old Saxon ōkian, ōcōn = Old High German ouhhōn, ouchōn, auhhōn = Icelandic auka (preterit aukadhi) = Swedish öka = Danish öge), increase, cause to grow; secondary form, properly causative of *eácan (preterit *eóc, past participle eácen), only in the past participle eácen (= Old Saxon ōcan, giōcan), as adjective, increased, enlarged, made pregnant, = Old Saxon *ōcan = Icelandic auka (preterit jōk) = Gothic (Moesogothic) aukan (preterit aiauk), intransitive, grow, increase; = Latin augere, increase; prob. connected with Greek αὐξάνειν, αῠξειν, increase, which is akin to English wax, increase. Hence eke, adv. and conj.
  2. from Middle English eke, also assibilated eche, from Anglo-Saxon eáca, an increase, from eácan, increase: see eke, v.
  3. from Middle English eke, eek, ek, ec, from Anglo-Saxon eác = Old Saxon ōk = OFries. āk = Dutch ook = Low German āk, ōk, auk = Old High German ouh, ouch, Middle High German ouch, German auch = Icelandic auk = Swedish och = Danish og, and, also, = Gothic (Moesogothic) auk, for, also; prob. the adverbial accusative of a noun (cf. Icelandic at auk, besides, to boot, Anglo-Saxon tō eácan, besides, moreover), from Anglo-Saxon *eácan, etc., increase: see eke, v.
 

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