Eke v. t. [imp. & p. p. Eked p. pr. & vb. n. Eking.] 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.”
He eked out by his wits an income of barely fifty pounds. --Macaulay.
Eke, adv. 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.
Note: ☞ Eke serves less to unite than to render prominent a subjoined more important sentence or notion.
Eke, n. An addition. [R.]
Clumsy ekes that may well be spared. --Geddes.
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