eke out

Definition

To supplement.

Etymology

From obsolete eke (“to add to, augment; to increase”) + out.

Example Sentences

• "The old man eked out his pension by selling vegetables from his garden."
• "Now the reaſons why they teach the calves to drink ſo ſoon are various. [...] Secondly, the goodwife ſaves milk by this way of drinking, for ſhe quickly ekes out the milk with pottage, &c."
• "[T]he author [William Belsham] ekes out his volume with a great many extraneous details, which relate to a ſubſequent period; [...] The whole work is ſingularly confuſed and deſultory: and, indeed, the plan which the author adopts, is altogether incompatible with that unity and coherence which is eſſential to hiſtory."