Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb Also.
- transitive verb To supplement with great effort. Used with out.
- transitive verb To get with great effort or strain. Used with out.
- transitive verb To make (a supply) last by practicing strict economy. Used with out.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To increase; enlarge; lengthen; protract; prolong.
- To add to; supply what is lacking to; increase, extend, or make barely sufficient by addition: usually followed by out: as, to
eke out a piece of cloth; to eke out a performance. - noun Something added to something else.
- noun Same as
eking , 2. - Also; likewise; in addition.
- noun An added structure.
- noun In agriculture, an oblong stack.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb 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. - adverb Obs. or Archaic In addition; also; likewise.
- noun rare An addition.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun beekeeping, archaic A very small addition to the bottom of a
beehive , often merely of a few bands of straw, on which the hive is raised temporarily. - verb To
increase ; toadd to,augment ,lengthen . - noun obsolete An
addition . - adverb archaic
Also .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Odd, when I tried "eke" it gave me the Turkish verb "ekmek."
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I looked up the Standard English, but rarely-used, verb "eke".
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With this practice Râmânuja's interpretation, on the other hand, fully agrees; for, according to him, the 'eke' are the
The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1 George Thibaut 1881
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And think before the latest engine shift that we got over the course of the last 10 weeks, we're going to start seeing a kind of eke into Q3, we're going to start to see it pick up pretty good in Q4, and then we're going to accelerate from there and then as we got into supporting calendar year '12 build rates, we're going to see the second step.
Precision Castparts Q2 2011 Earnings Call Transcript -- Seeking Alpha 2010
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Republicans eked out some gains in other states, including my own North Carolina (and I do mean "eke").
The Corner 2008
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Fund manager Perpetual said it is willing to share limited financial information with private-equity group KKR to perhaps eke out a higher bid.
What's News 2010
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But rather than tell that story, dig in, and fight like a true leader would, Obama has chosen to hire corporate-friendly advisors, compromise on the most crucial substance, and attempt to eke out weak, symbolic, half-victories gift-wrapped in flowery oratory and spin.
Josh Silver: Comcastrophe: Comcast/NBC Merger Approved Josh Silver 2011
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As Professor Moeen Cheema notes, these young, part-time and often poor lawyer-foot soldiers that made up the bulk of Pakistan's legal establishment, "barely eke out a decent living from legal practice ... and enrollment in the bar is a part-time venture for them that provides a status of respectability rather than living wages."
Ehsan Zaffar: Amid a Turbulent Year, a Rare Sign of Hope in Pakistan Ehsan Zaffar 2011
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Most Asian markets also slipped, although a weaker yen helped Tokyo eke out a gain.
What's News 2010
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With Jersey Shore, MTV decided to do its own line as a way to eke out more revenue from the thriving franchise.
Ghosts Aren't Nearly as Frightening as These Characters Elizabeth Holmes 2010
frindley commented on the word eke
Idiom: "eke out a living", frequently misused to mean making a pretty poor living overall doing something that's badly paid, when in fact it refers to the making up of deficiencies. Merriam-Webster's example: "He eked out his income by getting a second job."
April 18, 2008
yarb commented on the word eke
Is that really misuse? I reckon it's so widespread a usage as to constitute a shift in meaning. What does OED2 say?
I'm just annoyed because I (mis)used it recently in a poem.
April 18, 2008
vanishedone commented on the word eke
OED, 2nd Ed.:
'3. to eke out: a. to supplement, supply the deficiencies of anything (const. with); esp. to make (resources, materials, articles of consumption, etc.) last the required time by additions, by partial use of a substitute, or by economy.
'b. To prolong (a speech or composition, an action) by expedients devised for that purpose; to contrive to fill up (a certain amount of space in writing, etc.).
'c. To contrive to make (a livelihood), or to support (existence) by various makeshifts.'
Interestingly enough, eke also turns out to be a dialect term (northern England) for a male salmon; cited once, 1887.
April 18, 2008
frindley commented on the word eke
Can't argue with that. (Don't change one word of your poem, yarb, I'm just stuck in the olden days before male salmon!)
April 18, 2008
bilby commented on the word eke
Is there a difference between eke and eke out?
April 18, 2008
vanishedone commented on the word eke
Plain 'eke':
1. trans. To increase, add to, lengthen. Also absol. 'neither to eke nor to pair' (Sc.): neither to add to nor take from. Proverb, 'every little ekes'. arch. or dial.
b. intr. To increase, grow. Obs.
2. To add. Const. til, to. Also absol. Obs.
Also 'eke up': 'to supply, repair (a loss). Obs.'
April 18, 2008
reesetee commented on the word eke
Eek.
April 18, 2008
bilby commented on the word eke
Thanks VO.
April 18, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word eke
Come then my brethren, and be glad,
And eke rejoice with me;
Lawn sleeves and rochets shall go down,
And hey! then up go we!
- Francis Quarles (1592-1644), The Shepherd's Oracles. Eclogue xi, Song of Anarchus, i.
September 19, 2009
gulyasrobi commented on the word eke
"eke" in Hungarian means: yoke
August 1, 2012