Eke out

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To supplement. transitive

    "The old man eked out his pension by selling vegetables from his garden."

  2. 2
    obtain with difficulty wordnet
  3. 3
    To obtain with difficulty or effort. transitive

    "He eked out a living selling vegetables from the garden."

  4. 4
    make by laborious and precarious means wordnet
  5. 5
    supplement what is thought to be deficient wordnet
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    live from day to day, as with some hardship wordnet

Example

More examples

"The old man eked out his pension by selling vegetables from his garden."

Etymology

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