Category:Eke

Eke, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Eked; p. pr. & vb. n. Eking.] Etym: [AS. ekan, ykan; akin to OFries, aka, OS. , OHG. ouhhon to add, Icel. auka to increase, Sw. öka, Dan. öge, Goth. aukan, L. augere, Skr. strength, ugra mighty, and probably to English wax, v. i. Cf. Augment, Nickname.]

Defn: 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 Eke, adv. Etym: [AS. eác; akin to OFries. ák, OS. , D., OHG. ouh, G. auch, Icel. auk, Sw. och and, Dan. og, Goth. auk for, but. Prob. from the preceding verb.]

Defn: 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. Mätzner.

eke Eke, n.

Defn: An addition. [R.] Clumsy ekes that may well be spared. Geddes.