eke: [12] No Old English evidence of this verb, which originally meant ‘increase’, has been found, but related forms in other Germanic languages, such as Old Norse auka and Gothic aukan, suggest that it did exist. Both these and a range of non-Germanic verbs, such as Latin augēre (source of English auction, augment, and author) and Greek aúkhein, point to an ultimate Indo-European ancestor *aug- (from which comes English wax ‘grow’).
The first syllable of nickname was originally eke. Until comparatively recently English had another word eke [OE], which meant ‘also’ (German auch and Dutch ook ‘also’ are related to it). It is not clear whether it is ultimately the same word as the verb eke. => auction, augment, author, nickname, wax
eke (v.)
c. 1200, eken "to increase, lengthen," north England and East Midlands variant of echen from Old English ecan, eacan, eacian "to increase," probably from eaca "an increase," from Proto-Germanic *aukan (cognates: Old Norse auka, Danish ?ge, Old Frisian aka, Old Saxon okian, Old High German ouhhon, Gothic aukan), from PIE *aug- (1) "to increase" (see augment). Now mainly in phrase to eke out (1590s), wherein it means "to make a supply of something go further or last longer." Related: Eked; eking.
eke (adv.)
"also" (obsolete), from Old English eac, cognate with Old Saxon, Old Dutch ok, Old Norse and Gothic auk, Old Frisian ak, Old High German ouh, German auch "also;" probably related to eke (v.).
例文
1. They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps.
彼らはゴミ捨て場でゴミを拾って朝な夕な生活を維持している。
2.Many workers can only eke out their redundancy money for about 10 weeks.
多くの労働者の手元にある散逸費は10週間程度しか維持できない。
3.That forced peasant farmers to try to eke a living off steep hillsides.
それは農民たちに険しい山の斜面でかろうじて生計を立てるように努力させた。
4. They eke out a bare existence ( ie They scarcely manage ) on his low salary.