I. egg 1 S1 W2 /eɡ/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old Norse ]
1 . BIRD [countable] a round object with a hard surface, that contains a baby bird, snake, insect etc and which is produced by a female bird, snake, insect etc:
Blackbirds lay their eggs in March.
an ostrich egg
The eggs hatch (=break open to allow the baby out) in 26 days.
2 .
FOOD [uncountable and countable] an egg, especially one from a chicken, that is used for food
fried/poached/boiled etc eggs
Joe always has bacon and egg for breakfast.
Whisk the egg white (=the white part) until stiff.
Beat in two of the egg yolks (=the yellow part) .
⇨ ↑ scrambled egg
3 . EGG SHAPE [countable] something the same shape as an egg:
a chocolate Easter egg
⇨ ↑ Easter egg
4 . ANIMALS/PEOPLE [countable] a cell produced by a woman or female animal that combines with ↑ sperm (=male cell) to make a baby SYN ovum
5 . (have) egg on your face if someone, especially someone in authority, has egg on their face, they have been made to look stupid by something embarrassing:
The Pentagon’s been left with egg on its face.
6 . put all your eggs in one basket to depend completely on one thing or one course of action in order to get success, so that you have no other plans if this fails:
When planning your investments, it’s unwise to put all your eggs in one basket.
7 . lay an egg American English informal to fail or be unsuccessful at something that you are trying to do
8 . good egg old-fashioned someone who you can depend on to be honest, kind etc
⇨ kill the goose that lays the golden egg at ↑ kill 1 (14), ⇨ ↑ nest egg
II. egg 2 BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1100-1200 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: eggja ]
egg somebody ↔ on phrasal verb
to encourage someone to do something, especially something that they do not want to do or should not do:
Bob didn’t want to jump, but his friends kept egging him on.