DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 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.