eke

1 of 2

verb

ˈēk 

eked; eking

transitive verb

1

: to get with great difficulty

—usually used with out

eke out a living

2

archaic : increase, lengthen

see also:

eke out

eke

2 of 2

adverb

archaic

: also

Synonyms of eke

Verb

• earn
• obtain

Examples of eke in a Sentence

Verb

eked out a living from the family's small farm

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Even with just one day, London surpassed New York in 2026 and took the Guinness World Record title for largest number of marathon finishers with just under 60,000, eking past the Big Apple’s 59,226. — Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026

Leading 4-1, after trading several groundstrokes, Muchová pulled Gauff wide to her forehand then stepped into the baseline to place a dropshot that just eked over the net on Gauff’s backhand side. — Ava Wallace, New York Times, 9 July 2026

In the second match of the day, France eked past Paraguay, with the South Americans providing a tough test for one of the tournament favorites. — Patrick Sung Cuadrado, CNN Money, 4 July 2026

The Dodgers eked across a run in the third on a Freddie Freeman groundout with runners on second and third. — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English echen, (northern and east Midlands) eken "to increase, extend, add, improve," going back to Old English īcan, gīcan, ȳcan, geȳcan, (Anglian) geēcan "to increase, add to, enhance," weak-verb derivative from Germanic *aukan- "to increase" (class VII strong verb), whence Old English ēacen, ēcen (past participle) "increased, endowed with excellent qualities, mighty," Old Frisian āka "to increase," Old Saxon ōkan "to make pregnant," Old High German zuoouhhan "to add," Old Icelandic auka "to increase, add to, surpass," Gothic aukan "to increase" (intransitive); Germanic *aukan- going back to a present stem from the Indo-European verbal base *h₂eu̯g- "grow, increase," whence also, with other formations, Lithuanian áugu, áugti "to grow," Latin augēō, augēre, perfect auxī "to increase, make greater, heighten"

Note: Regarding the most likely related Indo-European base *h₂u̯eks- see note at wax entry 3.

Adverb

Middle English, from Old English ēac; akin to Old High German ouh also, Latin aut or, Greek au again

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Adverb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing eke

• eke out

Rhymes for eke

• beak
• beek
• bleak
• cheek
• chic
• clique
• creak
• creek
• freak
• geek
• greek
• leak