Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Eke \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.