eked out

verb (used with object), eked, ek·ing.

to increase; enlarge; lengthen.

Verb phrases

eke out,

to make (a living) or support (existence) laboriously: They managed to eke out a living by farming a small piece of land.

to supplement; add to; stretch: to eke out an income with odd jobs.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English eken, Old English ēac(i)an (intransitive), derivative of ēaca (noun) increase; Middle English echen, Old English ēcan, variant of īecan (transitive) < West Germanic *aukjan; both akin to Old Norse auka, Gothic aukan, Latin augēre, Greek auxánein to increase, amplify

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Eked out is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

eke¹ (iːk)

—vb
	archaic (tr) to increase, enlarge, or lengthen

[Old English eacan; related to Old Norse auka to increase, Latin augēre to increase]

eke² (iːk)

—*sentence connector*
	archaic also; moreover

[Old English eac; related to Old Norse, Gothic auk also, Old High German ouh, Latin autem but, aut or]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

eke

c.1200, north England and E. Midlands var. of echen from O.E. ecan, eacan, eacian "addition, reinforcement," probably from eaca "an increase," from P.Gmc. *aukan (cf. O.N. auka, O.Fris. aka, Goth. aukan), from PIE *aug- "to increase" (see augment). Now mainly in phrase to

eke out (1590s). It means "to make something go further or last longer;" you can eke out your income by taking a second job, but you can't eke out your miserable existence. Obsolete eke "also" (O.E. eac, Ger. auch) is probably related. Related: Eked; eking

Matching Quote

"All the distinguished writers of that period [the Renaissance] possess a greater vigor and naturalness than the more modern,—for it is allowed to slander our own time,—and when we read a quotation from one of them in the midst of a modern author, we seem to have come suddenly upon a greener ground, a greater depth and strength of soil. It is as if a green bough were laid across the page, and we are refreshed as by the sight of fresh grass in midwinter or early spring. You have constantly the warrant of life and experience in what you read. The little that is said is eked out by implication of the much that was done. The sentences are verdurous and blooming as evergreen and flowers, because they are rooted in fact and experience, but our false and florid sentences have only the tints of flowers without their sap or roots."

-Henry David Thoreau

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