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eke out

phrasal verb

Formsekes out, eking out, eked out

2 meanings of eke out

Practice

  1. 1
    phrasal verbtransitive
    To obtain something with difficulty or through hard effort.

    Small farmers in the valley struggle to eke out a living from the thin soil.

    The incumbent eked out a narrow victory after a weeklong recount.

    Similarscrape

    Note

    Here the object is what is won, not what is topped up as in the supplementing sense. The most familiar object is a living, and whatever is eked out tends to be modest and hard-won: a narrow victory, a few more orders. The participle is spelled eking, with no e before the ending, though ekeing does turn up in print.

  2. 2
    phrasal verbtransitive
    To supplement something, such as a small income or supply, by adding to it from another source.

    Retired teachers in the town often eke out their pensions by tutoring.

    The cook eked out the stew with lentils when unexpected guests arrived.

    Similarsupplement, stretch, augment

    Note

    The phrase still does what its old verb said: eke meant to add to or increase, so something too small is made up from another source. What falls short is the object, and the addition follows with or by: eke out the milk with pottage, eke out a wage by working nights.

Practice

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Origin

Formed from the obsolete verb eke (“to add to, augment; to increase”) + out.