Forms: 1 (see ECHE v.), 2–3 eken, 4–6 ek, (4 ayke, ȝeke(n), 5–8 eek(e, 6–7 eak(e, (7 eck, eyk), 4– eke, 5– Sc. eik. [partly f. EKE sb.1; partly dial. (northern) form of ECHE v.]
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.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 57. Þe holie man fasteð forto … eken his holinesse.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter civ. [cv.] 24. He ayked his folk swith mikel on an.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 13. Nowe … þe pricis are ekid. Ibid., 26. Þey … ȝekun þer synnis.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (1840), 133. Theyr bounté for to eeke.
1530. Palsgr., 531/2. I eke … my gowne is to shorte for me, but I wyll eke it.
1566. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. (1846), I. 130. This miserie … which the malice of man cane neyther eak nor paire.
1599. Harsnet, Agst. Darell, 193. As they say, Every thing Eiketh.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., 96. Quhen the partie hes named ane certaine number of witnes, he may not thereafter eike, nor pair the number of the witnes.
1639. J. Clarke, Parœmiologia, 10. A litle eekes.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, III. vi. 372. It not being princely to piece, patch, or eek the same [the Vail of the Tabernacle], another was contrived.
1731. Pope, Ep. Burlington, 32. Some patch’d dog-hole ek’d with ends of wall.
1755. Smollett, Quix., I. 377. Without eking or curtailing God’s precious truth.
1829. Clare, Ode Autumn, Anniversary, 76. The moaning brook, that ekes its weary speed.
† b. intr. To increase, grow. Obs.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 162. His power eikit so and grew.
† 2. To add. Const. † til, to. Also absol. Obs.
c. 1200. Ormin, 16352. Ȝiff þu takesst twiȝȝes an And ekesst itt till fowwre.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21194. Þar-til þai eked mar and mare.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxvi. 190. Sal I ek til Goddis wengeance?
1549. Compl. Scot., xv. 123. Ther can na thing be eikkyt to my parsecutione bot cruel dede.
1634–50. Row, Hist. Kirk (1842), 16–7. We … conforme to the notes and additions thereto eiked.
1733. Neal, Hist. Purit., II. 14. His Majesty … eked others that I had omitted.
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.
1596. Bp. W. Barlow, Three Serm., iii. 133. Let the poore … not to bee so wastfully giuen to spending, as before, but eeke it out to the vtmost.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. ii. 209. Ros. The little strength that I haue, I would it vvere with you. Cel. And mine to eeke out hers.
1623. Lisle, Ælfric on O. & N. T., To Rdr. 6. Best is he that inuents, the next he that followes forth and eekes out a good inuention.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (ed. 3), I. 157. My Ink … had been gone for some time, all but a very little, which I eek’d out with Water a little and a little.
1788. Burns, Extempore 2 Lawyers. But what his common sense came short, He eked out wi’ law, man.
1872. Baker, Nile Tribut., xx. 353. I determined to start … to eke out our scanty supply of water.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol., i. 26. The meaning of their [savage races’] words has to be eked out by gesture and gesticulation.
1878. H. S. Wilson, Alpine Ascents, ii. 57. After a glass apiece we eke out the remainder with snow.
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.).
1641. Milton, Animadv. (1851), 245. Your reverence to eek out your sermonings shall need repaire to Postills, or Polianthea’s.
a. 1656. Ussher, Ann., VI. (1658), 551. As for his ecking out … the siege, it was done upon good grounds.
1747. Johnson, Plan Eng. Dict., Wks. IX. 186. To eke out any thing, signifies to lengthen it beyond its just dimensions, by some low artifice.
1847. Barham, Ingol. Leg. (1877), 289. Enough to have eked out a decent-sized volume.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, xi. 236. He … eked out the measure with a peculiar musical sound.
c. To contrive to make (a livelihood), or to support (existence) by various makeshifts.
1825. T. Jefferson, Autobiog., Wks. 1859, I. 89. To eke out the existence of the people, every person who had the means, was called on for a weekly subscription.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., ii. (1876), 19–20. Some runaway slaves, who, by cultivating a little ground near the top, contrived to eke out a subsistence.
1875. Farrar, Seekers, I. i. 12. To eke out a scanty livelihood.
† 4. To eke up: to supply, repair (a loss). Obs.
1633. D. Rogers, Treat. Sacraments, II. 53. What meanes are so like to eike up … spiritual losses, as the Supper of the Lord?
