Rather, we often eke out meaning based largely on context and expectations.

I hold them-oroptions-onlylong enough to eke out a small profit.

In certain cases, education and enlightenment can serve to eke out evil.

Only the cruelest of weeds and thorns eke out a living now.

Many migrants eke out a living as street vendors or day laborers.

Others eke out a living by begging for alms on the streets.

Microbes might, however, be able to eke out an existence below the surface.

And more focused management could eke out value by marketing drugs more aggressively.

There you may eke out an existence as best you may.

Some were to eke out a life of widowhood in poverty.

There are gaps in my own knowledge I want you to eke out.

I might manage to eke out a subsistence in that way.

They eke out a living growing vegetables on the land around the shack.

Does our friend eke out his modest income with a crossing?

We quickly learned that we couldn't eke out an existence in the jungle.

Somehow, they managed to survive and eke out a living here.