Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Eke?

\Eke\ ([=e]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Eked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Eking}.] [AS. [=e]kan, [=y]kan; akin to OFries, [=a]ka, OS. ?kian, OHG. ouhh[=o]n to add, Icel. auka to increase, Sw. ["o]ka, Dan. ["o]ge, Goth. aukan, L. augere, Skr. ?jas strength, ugra mighty, and probably to English wax, v. i. Cf. {Augment}, {Nickname}.] 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\, adv. [AS. e['a]c; akin to OFries. ['a]k, OS. ?k, D. ?ok, OHG. ouh, G. auch, Icel. auk, Sw. och and, Dan. og, Goth. auk for, but. Prob. from the preceding verb.] 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. --M["a]tzner.
\Eke\, n. An addition. [R.] Clumsy ekes that may well be spared. --Geddes.