eke Meaning, Definition & Usage

Eke transitive verb

Etymology

AS. ekan, ykan; akin to OFries, aka, OS. kian, OHG. ouhhon to add, Icel. auka to increase, Sw. öka, Dan. öge, Goth. aukan, L. augere, Skr. jas strength, ugra mighty, and probably to English wax, v. i. Cf. Augment, Nickname.

Wordforms

imperfect & past participle Eked ; present participle & verbal noun Eking

Definitions

1. 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.

Eke adverb

Etymology

AS. eác; akin to OFries. ák, OS. k, D. ok, OHG. ouh, G. auch, Icel. auk, Sw. och and, Dan. og, Goth. auk for, but. Prob. from the preceding verb.

Definitions

1. 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.

   ✍ Eke serves less to unite than to render prominent a subjoined more important sentence or notion. Mätzner.

Eke noun

Definitions

1. An addition. R.

   Clumsy ekes that may well be spared. Geddes.