\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.