eke
Valid in Scrabble
- Scrabble points
- 7
- Words With Friends
- 7
- Letters
- 3
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Definition of eke
5 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included
noun
- (dialectal)An addition.
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noun
- (dialectal)An addition.
- (archaic)A small stand on which a beehive is placed.
- A spacer put between or over or under hive parts to make more space.
verb
-
(transitive)Chiefly in the form eke out: to add to, to augment; to increase; to lengthen.
“Is not enough, that thruſt from heauen dew / Here endleſſe penaunce for one fault I pay, / But that redoubled crime with vengeaunce new / Thou biddeſt me to eeke?”
“Now the reaſons why they teach the calves to drink ſo ſoon are various. […] Secondly, the goodwife ſaves milk by this way of drinking, for ſhe quickly ekes out the milk with pottage, &c.”
“Pity the hag-ridd'n quiv'rer who contracts / To ſuperſtition's gloom religion's joy, / And humbles adoration into dread. / Who ekeing his inch'd meaſure from within, / Peeps through his narrow ſoul's dim loop-hole wink, / And inſolently by his own ſcale takes / The altitude of heaven.”
“All ekes [or helps] as the geni-wren said, when she piss'd in the sea. / Many littles make a mickle, the whole ocean is made up of drops.”
“[T]he author [William Belsham] ekes out his volume with a great many extraneous details, which relate to a ſubſequent period; […] The whole work is ſingularly confuſed and deſultory: and, indeed, the plan which the author adopts, is altogether incompatible with that unity and coherence which is eſſential to hiſtory.”
adv
-
(archaic, not-comparable)Also; in addition to.
“The ſoote [i.e., sweet] ſeaſon, that bud and blome forth brings, / With grene hath clad the hill, and eke the vale: […]”
“'Tis false: for Arthur wore in Hall / Round Table like a Farthingal, / On which, with Shirt pull'd out behind, / And eke before his good Knights dined.”
“John Gilpin was a citizen / Of credit and renown, / A train-band Captain eke was he / Of famous London town.”
“A vinegary face has Mrs Miff, and a mortified bonnet, and eke a thirsty soul for sixpences and shillings.”
Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English eke (“addition, increase, enlargement”), from Old English ēaca, from Proto-Germanic *aukô, from *aukaną (“to increase, add, enlarge”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- (“to enlarge,…
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The noun is derived from Middle English eke (“addition, increase, enlargement”), from Old English ēaca, from Proto-Germanic *aukô, from *aukaną (“to increase, add, enlarge”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- (“to enlarge, increase”). The English noun is cognate with Old Frisian āka (“addition, increase; bonus”), Old Norse auki (“growth, increase, proliferation”). The verb is derived partly: * from the noun; and * from Middle English eken (“to increase, add, enlarge”) [and other forms], from three distinct verbs (1) Old English īeċan (“to increase, add, enlarge”) (transitive), (2) ēacan (“to be enlarged or increased”), and (3) ēacian, all from Proto-Germanic *aukaną (“to grow, increase”); see further above. The English verb is cognate with Latin augeō (“to augment, increase; to enlarge, expand, spread; to lengthen; to exaggerate; to enrich; to honour; (figuratively) to exalt, praise”), Old English ēac (“also”), Old Norse auka (“to augment, increase; to add; to exceed, surpass”), Icelandic auka (“to augment, increase to add; to exceed, surpass”), (Danish øge (“to enhance; to increase”), Norwegian Bokmål øke (“to increase”), Norwegian Nynorsk auka (“to increase”), Swedish öka (“to increase”)).
Hooks
5 extensions · 3 front · 2 back
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