From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishekeeke /iːk/ verb → eke something ↔ out→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
eke• Most of them eke out a living as subsistence farmers.• She continued to eke out a living based on the fading memories of her famous plunge.• Most people still live in the hinterlands of the inhabited islands eking out a living, but poverty abounds.• Finally came the bookshop where dear Mr Sneddles tried to eke out a living.• Few had any special skills; they worked as casual laborers, eking out a marginal existence, often reduced to begging.• Again, the choice was between following the work to the factory towns or eking out an existence by labouring.• I was tired of eking out an existence near poverty level on my meager assistantship.• But I restrained the impulse, for it is as well to eke out such tokens of our goodwill as we possess.Origin eke Old English iecan, ecan “to increase” 