Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To encourage or incite to action. Used with on:
  • noun A female gamete; an ovum.
  • noun The round or oval female reproductive body of various animals, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and insects, consisting usually of an embryo surrounded by nutrient material and a protective covering.
  • noun The oval, thin-shelled reproductive body of a bird, especially that of a hen, used as food.
  • noun Something having the ovoid shape of an egg.
  • noun Slang A fellow; a person.
  • transitive verb To cover with beaten egg, as in cooking.
  • transitive verb Slang To throw eggs at.
  • idiom (egg on (one's) face) Embarrassment; humiliation.
  • idiom (lay an egg) To fail, especially in a public performance.
  • idiom (put/have) To risk everything on a single venture.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To apply eggs to; cover or mix with eggs, as cutlets, fish, bread, etc., in cooking.
  • To pelt with eggs.
  • noun In cricket, no score; zero; a duck's egg.
  • To incite or urge; encourage; instigate; provoke: now nearly always with on.
  • noun The body formed in the females of all animals (with the exception of a few of the lowest type, which are reproduced by gemmation or division), in which, by impregnation, the development of the fetus takes place; an ovum, ovule, or egg-cell; the procreative product of the female, corresponding to the sperm, sperm-cell, or spermatozoön of the male.
  • noun Something like or likened to an egg in shape.
  • noun [The egg was used by the early Christians as a symbol of the hope of the resurrection. The use of eggs at Easter has, doubtless, reference to the same idea. Eggs of marble have been found in the tombs of early Christians.]

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To urge on; to instigate; to incite�
  • noun (Popularly) The oval or roundish body laid by domestic poultry and other birds, tortoises, etc. It consists of a yolk, usually surrounded by the “white” or albumen, and inclosed in a shell or strong membrane.
  • noun (Biol.) A simple cell, from the development of which the young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell.
  • noun Anything resembling an egg in form.
  • noun (Arch.) see egg-and-dart in the vocabulary, below; -- called also egg and dart, and egg and tongue. See Anchor, n., 5.
  • noun (Biol.) a process of cleavage or segmentation, by which the egg undergoes endogenous division with formation of a mass of nearly similar cells, from the growth and differentiation of which the new organism is ultimately formed. See Segmentation of the ovum, under Segmentation.
  • noun (Biol.) the process of the development of an egg, by which the embryo is formed.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any mite which devours the eggs of insects, as Nothrus ovivorus, which destroys those of the canker worm.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any small hymenopterous insect, which, in the larval stage, lives within the eggs of other insects. Many genera and species are known.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To encourage, incite.
  • noun zoology, countable An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, snakes, insects and other animals housing the embryo during its development.
  • noun countable The egg of a domestic fowl as an item of food.
  • noun uncountable The contents of one or more (hen's usually) eggs as a culinary ingredient, etc.
  • noun biology, countable The female primary cell, the ovum.
  • noun Something shaped like an egg, such as an Easter egg or a chocolate egg.
  • noun A swelling on one's head, usually large or noticeable, associated with an injury.
  • noun mildly pejorative, slang, ethnic slur , (potentially offensive) A person of Caucasian (Western) ancestry, who has a strong desire to learn about and immerse him- or herself in East Asian culture, and/or such a person who is perceived as behaving as if he or she were Asian (from the "white" outside and "yellow" inside).
  • noun New Zealand (pejorative) A foolish or obnoxious person.
  • noun In terms such as good egg, bad egg, tough egg etc., a person, fellow.
  • verb To throw eggs at.
  • verb To dip in or coat with beaten egg (cooking).
  • verb To distort a circular cross-section (as in a tube) to an elliptical or oval shape, either inadvertently or intentionally.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun one of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens
  • noun oval reproductive body of a fowl (especially a hen) used as food
  • noun animal reproductive body consisting of an ovum or embryo together with nutritive and protective envelopes; especially the thin-shelled reproductive body laid by e.g. female birds
  • verb throw eggs at
  • verb coat with beaten egg

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English eggen, from Old Norse eggja; see ak- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English egge, bird's egg, from Old Norse egg; see awi- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse eggja ("to edge").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English egge, from Old Norse egg ("egg"), from Proto-Germanic *ajjan (“egg”), by Holtzmann's Law from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”). Cognate with Icelandic egg ("egg"), Norwegian egg ("egg"), Swedish ägg ("egg"), Danish æg ("egg"). The native English ey (pl. eyren), akin to Dutch ei (pl. eieren) and German Ei (pl. Eier) survived into the 16th century before being fully replaced by egg. More at ey.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word egg.

Examples

  • * chick embryo, chicken egg, duck egg* calf (bovine) serum* betapropiolactone

    WHAT REALLY HAPPENED 2009

  • Not just because I'm about to share them with the café's proprietor, Australian chef Bill Granger, but because I've read all about these eggs - the dish that gave Granger his title "egg master of Sydney" - and they're supposed to be damn good.

    Evening Standard - Home Jasmine Gardner 2011

  • In biology, the term egg is biologically ambiguous and the theory of punctuated equilibrium, for example, does not support a clear division between a chicken and the closest ancestors of that chicken.

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2009

  • Around the egg is a membrane, and evenly spaced on the membrane are points where columns of calcite (a form of calcium carbonate) form.

    Egg-Citing Facts 2008

  • Instead, she provided me with an e-mail address that contained the word egg.

    NYT > Home Page By LISA BELKIN 2011

  • For instance, a word finga, a uniquely proto-Ruvu term for "egg," is attested in Matumbi, Ndengeleko, and Ruihi.

    Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

  • She can remind the little one of how the flower seed is treasured in the ovary until it is able to go out into the big world, and can then tell him that the wonderful seed of the bird, which we call the egg, is treasured in the same way; this to be followed by the story of the care needed by the bird's egg after it is born, -- how it cannot be left to shift for itself, but must be watched over and kept warm by its loving little parents until it is fit to leave the shell, how it then breaks its prison and comes forth so weak and helpless to be yet further loved and cared for and taught by its faithful parents.

    The Renewal of Life; How and When to Tell the Story to the Young Margaret Warner Morley 1890

  • Dip cutlets in egg, roll in bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and brown in olive oil.

    what is your favorite way to eat venision? 2009

  • Dip cutlets in egg, roll in bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and brown in olive oil.

    what is your favorite way to eat venision? 2009

  • Each egg is stamped with a different Disney character and if you get the additional egg mold, you can make the eggs into little mickey mouse Disney icons.

    The Consumerist: February 2009 Archives 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Used in the Same Context:

    beef · butter · chicken · coffee · corn · cup · dish

    September 29, 2010

  • I like my coffee scrambled.

    September 29, 2010

  • egg on ( from Old Norse eggja "to goad on, incite," from egg "edge")

    as opposed to an egg easy over....and not over the edge

    February 8, 2013