Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To obtain, manage, or produce something with great difficulty, effort, or frugality, often in minimal amounts or just barely enough.
   • To supplement or stretch something that is scarce or insufficient to make it last longer or be more adequate.

Usage and Examples

• To obtain or manage with difficulty:
  • The detective eked out the truth from the reluctant witness.
  • They eked out a narrow victory in the final minutes of the game.
• To make a living with great effort and hardship:
  • For years, she eked out a living by selling handmade crafts.
  • The farmer eked out an existence from the barren land.
• To supplement something scarce:
  • He eked out his small salary by working a second job.
  • We can eke out the remaining supplies for another week if we are careful.

Advanced Usage

• The phrase often implies a continuous, struggling effort over time to achieve a minimal result or sustain oneself.
• It is frequently used with abstract nouns like , , , or with concrete but limited resources like , , .
• The object of the verb is typically the thing that is barely achieved or sustained (e.g., , ), while the means or source of the effort is often introduced with "by" or "from."

Variants and Related Words

• Eke (verb, archaic): To increase, lengthen, or supplement. (Rarely used alone in modern English; survives almost exclusively in the phrasal verb "eke out.")
• Scrape by (phrasal verb): To manage to live or survive with barely enough money or resources. (A close synonym in the context of making a living.)

Synonyms

• Scrape by: To just barely manage financially.
• Get by: To manage to live or survive, often with minimal resources.
• Stretch: To make something last longer by using it carefully.
• Supplement: To add something to complete or enhance it.

Notes on Meaning

The core meaning of "eke out" combines two related ideas: 1. The Effortful Acquisition: Gaining something (a fact, a win, a livelihood) only through persistent and strenuous effort. 2. The Frugal Extension: Carefully supplementing or parsimoniously using a meager resource to make it suffice.

The sense of hardship and scarcity is central to all its uses. It does not mean to obtain easily or to have in abundance.

Verb

1. obtain with difficulty
   • He eked out some information from the archives
2. make by laborious and precarious means
   • He eked out a living as a painter
3. live from day to day, as with some hardship
   • He eked out his years in great poverty
4. supplement what is thought to be deficient
   • He eked out his meager pay by giving private lessons
   • Braque eked out his collages with charcoal