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egg - 14 dictionary results

egg
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egg

1 [eg]

Use egg in a Sentence

–noun

1.	the roundish reproductive body produced by the female of certain animals, as birds and most reptiles, consisting of an ovum and its envelope of albumen, jelly, membranes, egg case, or shell, according to species.

2.	such a body produced by a domestic bird, esp. the hen.

3.	the contents of an egg or eggs: raw egg; fried eggs.

4.	anything resembling a hen's egg.

5.	Also called egg cell. the female gamete; ovum.

6.	Informal. person: He's a good egg.

7.	Slang. an aerial bomb.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to prepare (food) by dipping in beaten egg.

—Idioms

9.	egg on one's face, Informal. humiliation or embarrassment resulting from having said or done something foolish or unwise: They were afraid to back the losing candidate and wind up with egg on their faces.

10.	lay an egg, Informal. to fail wretchedly, esp. to be unsuccessful in front of an audience: He laid an egg as the romantic hero.

11.	put all one's eggs in one basket, to venture all of something that one possesses in a single enterprise.

12.	walk on eggs, to walk or act very cautiously.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME < ON; r. ME ey, OE ǣg, G Ei egg; akin to L ōvum, Gk ōión egg

Related forms:

eggless, adjective

eggy, adjective

Pronunciation note:
Egg, like beg, leg, and other words where “short e” precedes a “hard g” sound, is pronounced with the vowel [e]

of bet and let, except in parts of New England and the South Midland and southern U.S., where these words are frequently said with [-eyg], to rhyme with vague and plague, especially in the speech of the less educated. This raising of [e] to a higher vowel [ey], articulated with the upper surface of the tongue closer to the palate, also occurs before [zh], as in measure, pleasure, and treasure.

egg

2 [eg]

–verb (used with object)

to incite or urge; encourage (usually fol. by on).

Origin:
1150–1200; ME < ON eggja to incite, deriv. of egg edge

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To egg

egg¹ (ěg)

1. A female gamete; an ovum. Also called egg cell.
2. 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.
3. The oval, thin-shelled reproductive body of a bird, especially that of a hen, used as food.
Something having the ovoid shape of an egg.
Slang A fellow; a person: He's a good egg.

tr.v. egged, egg·ing, eggs

To cover with beaten egg, as in cooking.
Slang To throw eggs at.

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

egg² (ěg)

tr.v. egged, egg·ing, eggs
To encourage or incite to action. Used with on: The racing fans egged their favorites on.

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

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Egg

Egg\, n. [OE., fr. Icel. egg; akin to AS. [ae]g (whence OE. ey), Sw. ["a]gg, Dan. [ae]g, G. & D. ei, and prob. to OSlav. aje, jaje, L. ovum, Gr. 'w,o`n, Ir. ugh, Gael. ubh, and perh. to L. avis bird. Cf. Oval.]

1. (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.

2. (Biol.) A simple cell, from the development of which the young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell.

3. Anything resembling an egg in form.

Note: Egg is used adjectively, or as the first part of self-explaining compounds; as, egg beater or egg-beater, egg case, egg ladle, egg-shaped, etc.

Egg and anchor (Arch.), an egg-shaped ornament, alternating with another in the form of a dart, used to enrich the ovolo; -- called also egg and dart, and egg and tongue. See Anchor, n., 5. --Ogilvie.

Egg cleavage (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.

Egg development (Biol.), the process of the development of an egg, by which the embryo is formed.

Egg mite (Zo["o]l.), any mite which devours the eggs of insects, as Nothrus ovivorus, which destroys those of the canker worm.

Egg parasite (Zo["o]l.), any small hymenopterous insect, which, in the larval stage, lives within the eggs of other insects. Many genera and species are known.

Egg

Egg\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Egged; p. pr. & vb. n. Egging.] [OE. eggen, Icel. eggja, fr. egg edge. ??. See Edge.] To urge on; to instigate; to incite?

Adam and Eve he egged to ill. --Piers Plowman.

[She] did egg him on to tell How fair she was. --Warner.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : egg

Spanish: huevo,

German: das Ei,

Japanese: 卵

More Translations »

egg

A female gamete.

egg (n.)

c.1340, from northern England dialect, from O.N. egg, which vied with M.E. eye, eai (from O.E. æg) until finally displacing it after 1500; both are from P.Gmc. *ajja(m), probably from PIE *owyo-/*oyyo- "egg" (cf. Goth. ada, Ger. ei, O.C.S. aja, Rus. jajco, Bret. ui, Gk. oon, L. ovum). Caxton (15c.) writes of a merchant (probably a north-country man) in a public house on the Thames who asked for eggs:

"And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no frenshe, but wolde have hadde egges, and she understode hym not."

She did, however, recognize another customer's request for "eyren." Egg nog is Amer.Eng. c.1775, from nog "strong ale," E.Anglian dial., of unknown origin. Eggplant is 1767, originally only of the white variety. Bad egg in the fig. sense is from 1855. To have egg on (one's) face "be made to look foolish" is first recorded 1964. Egg-beater is from 1828; slang sense of "helicopter" is from 1937. Eggshell as emblematic of "thin and delicate" is from 1835; as a color term, it dates from 1894.

egg (v.)

c.1200, from O.N. eggja "to goad on, incite," from egg "edge" (see edge).

Main Entry: egg
Pronunciation: 'eg, 'Ag
Function: noun
1 : the hard-shelled reproductive body produced by a bird and especially by the common domesticchicken (Gallus gallus)
2 : an animal reproductive body consisting of an ovum together with its nutritive and protective envelopes and having the capacity to develop into anew individual capable of independent existence
3 : OVUM

egg (ěg)
n.
The female sexual cell or gamete; an ovum.

egg (ěg) Pronunciation Key

The larger, usually nonmotile female reproductive cell of most organisms that reproduce sexually. Eggs are haploid (they have half the number of chromosomes as the other cells in the organism's body). During fertilization, the nucleus of an egg cell fuses with the nucleus of a sperm cell (the male reproductive cell) to form a new diploid organism. In animals, eggs are spherical, covered by a membrane, and usually produced by the ovaries. In some simple aquatic animals, eggs are fertilized and develop outside the body. In some terrestrial animals, such as insects, reptiles and birds, eggs are fertilized inside the body but are incubated outside the body, protected by durable, waterproof membranes (shells) until the young hatch. In mammals, eggs produced in the ovaries are fertilized inside the body and (except in the cases of monotremes) develop in the reproductive tract until birth. The human female fetus possesses all of the eggs that she will ever have; every month after the onset of puberty, one of these eggs matures and is released from the ovary into the fallopian tube, where it is either fertilized or discarded during menstruation. In many plants (such as the bryophytes, ferns, and gymnosperms) eggs are produced by flasked-shaped structures known as archegonia. In gymnosperms and angiosperms, eggs are enclosed within ovules. In angiosperms, the ovules are enclosed within ovaries. See also oogenesis.
In many animals, a structure consisting of this reproductive cell together with nutrients and often a protective covering. The embryo develops within this structure if the reproductive cell is fertilized. The egg is often laid outside the body, but the female of ovoviviparous species may keep it inside the body until after hatching.

Egg

(Heb. beytsah, "whiteness"). Eggs deserted (Isa. 10:14), of a bird (Deut. 22:6), an ostrich (Job 39:14), the cockatrice (Isa. 59:5). In Luke 11:12, an egg is contrasted with a scorpion, which is said to be very like an egg in its appearance, so much so as to be with difficulty at times distinguished from it. In Job 6:6 ("the white of an egg") the word for egg (hallamuth') occurs nowhere else. It has been translated "purslain" (R.V. marg.), and the whole phrase "purslain-broth", i.e., broth made of that herb, proverbial for its insipidity; and hence an insipid discourse. Job applies this expression to the speech of Eliphaz as being insipid and dull. But the common rendering, "the white of an egg", may be satisfactorily maintained.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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egg

In addition to the idioms beginning with egg, also see bad egg; good egg; goose egg; kill the goose that lays the golden eggs; lay an egg; put all one's eggs in one basket; walk on eggs.

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