egg--prophetes.ai

▪ I. egg, n.
    (ɛg)
    Forms: α. 1 ǽᵹ, (ǽiᵹ), 2 aiᵹ, 3–5 ey(e, 4–6 ay(e, 5 ȝey; pl. 1 ǽᵹ(e)ru, 4 eyer, 3–5 ay-, ei-, eyren(e, 5 eyron, -oun. β. 4–7 eg, egge, (5 eeg, ege, hegge), 6– egg.
    [Com. Teut.: OE. ǽᵹ, pl. ǽᵹru (whence the αforms) = OS. ei (MDu., Du. ei), OHG. ei, pl. eigir (MHG. ei, mod.G. ei, pl. eier), ON. egg, Goth. *addjis (Crim.-Goth. 16th c. ada):—OTeut. *ajjoz- neut. The β. forms are from the ON. egg.
    The connexion of the Teut. word with its WAryan synonyms, Gr. ὠόν, L. ōvum, OSl. jaje, Ir. og, is probable, but has not yet been demonstrated.]
    I. 1. a. The (more or less) spheroidial body produced by the female of birds and other animal species, and containing the germ of a new individual, enclosed within a shell or firm membrane. addle egg, wind egg: see those words.

a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xx. 169 On æᵹe bið ᵹioleca on middan. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 156 Wiþ þon þe hær ne weaxe æmettan æᵹru ᵹenim. a 1225 Ancr. R. 66 Kumeð þe coue..& reueð hire hire eiren. c 1300 K. Alis. 568 A faukon..An ay he laide..That feol the kyng Phelip nygh. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 343 Many other briddes Hudden..her egges..In mareys. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lix. 5 The eiren of edderes thei to-breeken. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxviii. 106 (Harl. MS.) Anoþere birde..laborithe..to infecte hir nest or hir eyren. 1486 Bk. St. Albans A ij a, To speke of hawkis fro an eeg to thei be habull to be takene. 1535 Coverdale Job xxxix. 13 The Estrich..when he hath layed his egges vpon the grounde, he bredeth them in the dust. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 32 Thinke him as a Serpents egge. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. 48 Improperly that is an egg out of the whole whereof a living creature is bred, as the eggs of Spiders, Ants, Flies. 1747 Gould Eng. Ants 32 A Queen..in a Box..will in a few Days deposit some Eggs, unless she had laid before you took her. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 339 The numerous brood of [turtles'] eggs are..buried in the warm sands of the shore. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. 95 The eggs of the Slug, when dried up by the sun or by artificial heat..are found not to have lost their fertility.

b. spec. An egg of a domestic fowl as an article of food.

805–31 Chart. Oswulf in Sweet O.E. Texts 444 ᵹif hit ðonne festendæᵹ sie, selle mon uneᵹe cæsu and fisces and butran and æᵹera. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 103 Smire mid æᵹes ᵹeolcan. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xi. 12 ᵹif he bit æᵹ [c 1160 Hatton aiᵹ] seᵹst þu ræcð he him scorpionem. 1297 R. Glouc. Chron. (Rolls) 8334 Vor aney tueie ssillinges wel vawc þo hii boȝte. c 1300 K. Alis. 4719 Men to heom threowe drit and donge, With foule ayren. c 1400 Mandeville v. 49 Thidre bryngen Wommen..here Eyren of Hennes, of Gees & of Dokes. c 1400 Rowland & O. 222 The lawes of Cristyante ne are noghte worthe ane aye. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 582 Wol thou..eyron grete thai legge? 1490 Caxton Eneydos Prol., What sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, egges or eyren, certaynly it is harde to playse every man. 1530 Proper Dyaloge (1863) 9 So is it not worthe a rotten aye. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 64 They are vp already, and call for Egges and Butter. 1614 W. B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) 52 Goose-egges are loathing. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. ii. 148 Constrain'd to..keep Lent with Bisket and hard Eggs only. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 255 Eggs are perhaps the..most nourishing..of all animal Food. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv. 137 Give them to this fellow; he'll put them down as if they were eggs, now. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 46 Was it..worth..discussion..whether an egg laid on a festival might or might not be eaten?

2. fig. a. That which contains the germ of anything; generally in a bad sense. Also in phrase, to crush in the egg.

1645 Tombes Anthropol. 8 This was the egge out of which their contentions were hatched. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch. Hen. IV, cccxlviii, Soe Power of Warre From the first Egge of Libertie, out-Creepes A fatall Serpent. 1689 Apol. Fail. Walker's Acc. 91 The Rebellion..had not been either prevented or crush'd in the Egg.

b. Applied contemptuously to a young person.

1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. ii. 83 What you Egge? Yong fry of Treachery. 1835 E. Elliott Taurassdes iv. iv. Wks. III. 272 Who would suspect a boy? Who hir'd thee? Egg!

3. a. Applied to anything that resembles an egg in shape or appearance. So † to turn up the eggs (i.e. the whites) of one's eyes.

1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 105 The egge or figure ouall. 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 89 The eggs of their eies are at their highest elevation. a 1637 B. Jonson (R.) A puritan poacht, That used to turn up the eggs of his eyes. a 1691 Boyle (J.) There was taken a great glass-bubble wih a long neck, such as chemists are wont to call a philosophical egg.

b. In full egg coal: see quots. orig. U.S.

1855 Santa Barbara (Calif.) Gaz. 22 Nov. 1/5 The attempt to make omelets out of ‘egg’ coal has been abandoned. 1880 Bradstreet's 2 Oct. 5/4 The sizes used are ‘lump’, ‘steamboat’, ‘broken’, and ‘pea’; while for family use the sizes are ‘egg’, ‘stove’ and ‘nut’. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss. Egg-Coal, Pennsylvania. 1900 Coal & Metal Miners' Pocketbk. (ed. 6) 434 Egg passes over 2{pp} mesh, and through 2³/₄{pp} mesh. Ibid. 585 Egg coal, anthracite coal that will pass through a 2³/₄{pp} square mesh and over a 2{pp} square mesh. 1924 A. T. Shurick Coal Industry 144 The broken coal..is again screened into egg, stove, and nut coal. 1970 F. McKenna Gloss. Railwaymen's Talk 35 Eggs, ovoid briquettes, made of coal dust and cement dust, used during coal shortage.

c. Cricket. = duck's egg b.

1861 Bell's Life 25 Aug. (Suppl.) 2/1 Dowson ‘laid an egg’; R. D. Walker made 10 in an hour and a quarter. 1898 K. S. Ranjitsinhji With Stoddart's Team in Australia x. 195 Gregory..was yorked first ball... Iredale also secured an ‘egg’.

d. A bomb, a mine. slang.

1917 War Illustr. 13 Jan. 524/2 That seaplane..having some explosive ‘eggs’ to drop. 1918 E. M. Roberts Flying Fighter 335 Eggs, bombs weighing twenty pounds and upward filled with high explosives and ‘laid’ in Hunland. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 44 Eggs, submarine mines, a war-time phrase. 1939 War Illustr. 9 Dec. 399/1 The Germans are thought to be using relays of U-boats. Even the smallest of these can carry up to a dozen ‘eggs’... A fast surface layer can put down more than 200 mines ‘at a sitting’. 1947 Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) i. 18 But we laid our eggs Neatly in their nest.

4. a. Phrases: a bad egg (colloq.): a person or a scheme that disappoints expectation. Similarly good egg (slang): (a) an excellent person or object; (b) an exclamation of enthusiastic approbation; also with other preceding adjs., esp. tough. † egg and bird: in youth and maturity, from beginning to end, first and last. to break the egg in anybody's pocket: to spoil his plan. † to take eggs for money: to be put off with something worthless. to have eggs on the spit: to have business in hand. to tread upon eggs: to walk warily, as on delicate ground. † (to be) with egg: (to be) ready to lay; also fig. † to come in with five eggs: to break in fussily with an idle story; more fully, five eggs a penny, and four of them addle. to have (get, etc.) egg on one's face: to be made to look foolish; to be embarrassed or humiliated by the turn of events.

1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 272 Persones comyng in with their fiue egges, how that Sylla had geuen ouer his office of Dictature. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 56 An other commeth in with his fiue egges. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iii. iii, I have eggs on the spit; I cannot go yet, sir. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 161 Mine honest Friend Will you take Egges for Money? 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. i. 130 Contented to take Eggs (as it were) for their money. 1711 Vind. Sacheverell A iiij, I have been such a profligate Liver, Egg, and Bird. 1733 P. Drake Grotto (title-page), Apollo's..Grotto makes them [Witts] all with egg. a 1734 North Exam. 324 This very circumstance..broke the egg..in the Pockets of the Whigs. a 1734 ― Ld. Guilford (1808) I. 245 (D.) This gave him occasion..to find if any slip had been made (for he all along trod upon eggs). 1747 Gould Eng. Ants 57 Very like that of a Female Bee, Wasp, or Queen Ant, when not with Egg. 1855 ‘P. Paxton’ Capt. Priest 319 In the language of his class, the Perfect Bird generally turns out to be ‘a bad egg’. 1864 Athenæum 559/1 ‘A bad egg’,..a fellow who had not proved to be as good as his promise. 1884 Black Jud. Shaks. xiii. in Harper's Mag. May 954/2, I have other eggs on the spit. 1903 Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 138 ‘Us'll find they ships!’..‘Good egg!’ quoth Moorshed. 1910 Galsworthy Justice 1, A real bad egg. 1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iii. x. 711 It doesn't look a hundred quid to a tanner on his blue. Bad luck. He's a very good egg. Ibid. xii. 739 Oxford was divided into Bad Men and Good Eggs. 1915 D. O. Barnett Lett. 56 We are going to do this regularly, and I think it is a very good egg. 1915 Wodehouse Something Fresh x. §3 ‘She isn't going to sue me for breach?’ ‘She never had any intention of doing so.’ The Hon. Frederick sank back on the pillows. ‘Good egg!’ he said with fervour. 1920 Galsworthy In Chancery i. xii. 100 He was a rotten egg. 1929 S. Aumonier Ups & Downs 418 Hullo, Pan! Good egg! 1930 E. H. Lavine Third Degree (1931) iii. 30 Occasionally, a really tough egg is trained to be a killer. 1938 Wodehouse Summer Moonshine i. 18 She's a tough egg. 1964 Saturday Night (Toronto) July 17/1 The move left many critics with egg on their faces. 1972 Times 19 Feb. 7/1 There is something reassuringly changeless about the capacity of the highest military authorities for getting egg on their faces. 1977 Times Educ. Suppl. 21 Oct. 11/2 The most immediate need is to decide why the physical measurements of the ages of the East African rocks appear to suggest such different patterns of hominid evolution from that provided by the evolution of the wild pig. In the process, many people will be discovered to have egg on their faces. 1983 ‘J. le Carré’ Little Drummer Girl x. 186 I'm just stuck there, am I, with egg on my face. 1984 Listener 15 Mar. 16/3 ‘Canadian Far East Trade Corporation’, ‘H and H Enterprises’ and ‘CMI Investments’ led the trustee to conclude that the CIA must have ‘egg on its face’ for associating with a swindler. 1985 Times 3 Jan. 13/1 BAT..succeeded in constantly getting egg on its face.

b. In many proverbial phrases of obvious meaning; also, as sure as eggs is eggs; hence, as safe as eggs (in same sense). teach your grandmother to suck eggs: said to those who presume to offer advice to others who are more experienced. to have all your eggs in one basket: to risk all one's property on a single venture; also to put († venture) all one's eggs in one basket, etc.

1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. i. 26 Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egge is full of meat. 1606 L. Bryskett Civ. Life 5 Critiques that spend their eyes to find a haire vpon an egge. 1620 Shelton Quix. III. vii, The Hen lays as well upon one Egg as many. a 1610 Babington Wks. (1622) 51 To be wonne with the egg and lost with the shell, is a great inconstancie. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 130 We are Almost as like as Egges. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. ii. §160. 117 They are as like your own, as an egge to an egge. a 1632 G. Herbert Jacula Prud. (1640) 291 He that steals an egg, will steal an ox. 1666 G. Torriano Second Alphabet of Proverbial Phrases 125/2 To put all ones Eggs in a Paniard, viz. to hazard all in one bottom. 1699 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, As sure as Eggs be Eggs. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 348 You would have me teach my Grandame to suck Eggs. 1710 S. Palmer Proverbs cxxiii. 344 (heading) A Mouse that has but one Hole, is soon Catch'd: or, Don't venture all your Eggs in One Basket. 1777 Sheridan Trip. Scarb. iii. iv, As full of good-nature as an egg's full of meat. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. vi, I shall come out bottom of the form as sure as eggs is eggs. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. III. iv. 114 We've got the Derby and Leger this next year as safe as eggs. 1874 G. J. Whyte-Melville Uncle John III. xxvii. 140 ‘Annie, my own darling, may I carry your basket all my life?’ ‘If you'll put all your eggs in it, yes,’ answered Annie boldly. 1925 D. H. Lawrence Refl. Death Porcupine 179 It is a pity that we have insisted on putting all our eggs in one basket: calling love the basket, and ourselves the eggs. 1955 Times 3 May 3/6 An area which had all its eggs in one basket. 1969 Times 5 Nov. 23/3 The earl is evidently feeling a little uncomfortable that all his family eggs are in one basket.

c. old egg: a familiar form of address = old chap, old fellow, old sport.

1919 Punch 5 Mar. 190/2 Cheerio, old egg. 1927 ‘A. Armstrong’ Patrick Engaged ix. §3 ‘You'd be arrested..and spoil the whole show,’ replied Patrick tersely. ‘Sorry, old egg, sorry!’

II. Comb.
5. In Plant-names: eggs and bacon, eggs and butter, eggs and collops; popular names for several plants, esp. Linaria vulgaris, the Field Snap-dragon or Toad-flax.

1878 Britten & Holl. Plant-n. Eggs and Bacon. From the two shades of yellow in the flower. 1 Linaria vulgaris, Mill.; 2 Lotus corniculatus. Eggs and Butter, Linaria vulgaris, Mill. Eggs and Collops, Linaria vulgaris, Mill.; 2 Ranunculus acris, L.

6. General comb.: a. attributive, as egg-ball, egg-basket, egg-coloration, egg-mass, egg-pie, egg-sauce, egg-season, egg-spoon, egg-stage, egg-stall, egg-state, egg-tongs, egg-yelk or egg-yolk.

1869 Beeton's Househ. Management 201 *Egg-balls for Soups and Made Dishes.

1773 J. Wedgwood Let. 21 Nov. (1965) 156 *Egg Baskets; Egg Cups, with covers and without. 1867 G. W. Harris Sut Lovingood 132 He wer histin aig-baskets.

1911 J. A. Thomson Biol. Seasons ii. 177 A stereotyped kind of *egg-coloration.

1869 Beeton's Househ. Management 858 Silver or plated *egg-dishes are now very much used.

1889 M. E. Bamford Up & Down Brooks 45 The bright-yellow *egg-mass. 1921 Brit. Museum Return 119 An exceedingly fine egg-mass of Natica sp. from Scotia Bay, South Orkneys. 1956 Nature 10 Mar. 489/2 Fifteen days after sowing, second-generation larvæ were hatching within the egg-masses.

a 1592 Greene Fr. Bacon (1861) 174 When *egg-pies grow on apple-trees, then will thy grey mare prove a bag-piper. 1634 J. Taylor (Water-P.) Gt. Eater Kent 12 It is welcome, whether it bee sawsedge or custard or egge-pye.

c 1685 in Dk. Buckhm's Wks. (1705) II. 48 She..neatly dish'd it up with *Egg-sauce. 1828 Macaulay Hallam, Ess. (1865) I. 80/2 Judgments only to be averted by salt-fish and egg-sauce.

1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World x. 94 Once I saw the results of repeated raids by a fox in the *egg-season.

1883 F. Day Indian Fish 26 They have their enemies in the *egg stage.. and during their maturity.

1824–9 Landor Imag. Conv. (1846) I. 273 Those who kept *egg-stalls and fish-stalls cursed him and removed them.

1747 Gould Eng. Ants 38 The Continuance of Ants in the *Egg State is somewhat precarious.

1868 Q. Rev. 354 These ‘colifichets’ are made principally of the *egg-yelk.

b. objective, as egg-collecting, egg-eating, egg-hunting, egg-laying vbl. n. and ppl. adj.; egg-gatherer, egg-hunter, egg-monger, egg-robber; also, egg-boiler, egg-detector, egg-poacher, egg-slicer, egg-tester, egg-timer, appliances and implements used for or in boiling, poaching, etc., eggs. Also egg-beater.

1936 Discovery Feb. 56/2 What branch of science can *egg collecting now advance?

1836 T. Hook G. Gurney I. iii. 85 *Egg-eating and prawn-picking are not delicate peformances. 1882 A. Hepburn in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 505 The egg-eating birds kept the wood pigeon within very moderate bounds.

1855 Knickerbocker XLVI. 223 Upon the approach of the *egg-gatherers, with little or no dissenting clamor, they rise up in one vast, dangling-legged body. 1936 Discovery Jan. 12/1 Saddlebags are strapped to horses, and egg-gatherers fill these bags in no time.

1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxvi. 265 Our *egg-hunters found it difficult to keep their feet.

1855 Knickerbocker XLVI. 223 As *egg-hunting is viewed by our country people as a species of ‘picnicking’, lovers and their mistresses..are the principal actors in these excursions.

1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) II. lxi. 186 Like a goose in the agonies of *egg-laying. 1676 Shadwell Virtuoso iii, All oviparous or egg-laying creatures.

1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 110/2 *Egg Poachers.

1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xvi. 133 Potential *egg-robbers.

1951 Catal. Exhibits, South Bank Exhib., Festival of Britain 63/1 ‘Skyline’ *Egg Slicer.

1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 25/1 Microscopes, *Egg Testers, Lamps, etc.

Ibid. 112/2 An assortment of *Egg..Timers, etc.

c. similative, as egg-bald, egg-ended, egg-eyed, egg-faced, egg-like, egg-oblong, egg-shaped, adjs.; egg-fashion adv.

1877 Tennyson Harold v. i, But If thou [the monk] blurt thy curse among our folk..I may give that *egg-bald head The tap that silences.

1859 W. J. M. Rankine Man. Steam Engine §63 The ends of ‘*egg-ended’ cylindrical boilers.

1875 Plain Needlework 10 Abel Morrell's ‘*egg-eyed’ needles.

1921 Glasgow Herald 26 Sept. 6 He will find the *egg-faced man there.

1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3819/8 Three Diamonds..two of them pretty large cut *Egg-fashion.

1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 18 *Egg-like [marginal gloss or oval]. 1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 742/2 The bones of the cranium..concur in the production of an egg-like cavity. 1857 Wood Com. Obj. Sea Shore 50 Some of them have anything but an egg-like aspect. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 16 A small oval face..with an egg-like line of cheek and chin.

1776 Withering Bot. Arrangem. (1796) I. 155 Seed single, *egg-oblong.

1766 Baker in Phil. Trans. LVI. 186 The seeds *egg-shaped, one or two strongly adhering to the calyx. 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 370 Ceylon is egg shaped.

7. Special comb.: egg albumin, albumin obtained from the white of an egg, esp. ovalbumin; also = albumen 1; egg and anchor, egg and dart, egg and tongue (mouldings), varieties of the echinus, produced by the alternation of vertical with egg-shaped ornaments: see echinus 4 and quots. there given; egg-and-spoon race, a foot race during which the competitors are required to carry an egg in a spoon (see also quot. 1894); egg-apparatus Bot., the group of three cells at the micropylar end of the embryo-sac in seed plants, only one of which is fertile; egg-apple, the fruit of the Egg-plant (Solanum Melongena); egg-bag, (a) the ovary; (b) = egg-case; egg-binding, the condition or disease of a fowl that is egg-bound; egg-bird, a species of tern (Hydrochelidon fuliginosum) common in the West Indies, where its eggs are collected for use as food; egg-born a., produced from an egg; egg-bound ppl. a., said of fowls suffering from weakness or disease, so that they are unable to expel their eggs; egg-bread U.S., bread made of the meal of Indian corn, eggs, etc.; egg-breaker (see quot.); egg-burster, a thickened area on an embryonic insect helping it to burst the egg membranes when hatching; egg-capsule, a natural envelope containing eggs; egg-case (see quot.); egg-cell, the cell or germ from which an egg or a living animal is subsequently developed; egg-cheese (see quot.); egg-chinned ppl. a., ? double-chinned, or having an egg-shaped chin; egg-cluster = egg-case; egg-cosy [cosy n. 2], a cover to keep a boiled egg warm; egg-covering, the external membrane of an insect's egg; egg-dance, a dance blindfold among eggs; fig. an intricate and difficult task; egg-eater S. Afr., a snake of the genus Dasypeltis, capable of crushing eggs with internal projections from its vertebrae; egg-eating snake = prec.; egg-flip = egg-nog; egg-form, an ellipse; † egg-fraise, a pancake; egg-fruit, the fruit of the egg-plant; † egg-fry, zoosperms, semen of the male; cf. fry; egg-full a., as full as an egg is of meat; egg-glass, (a) a glass for holding an egg; (b) a sand-glass in which the running of the sand indicates the time during which an egg should be boiled; egg-hole (see quot.); egg-hot, ‘a hot drink made of beer, eggs, sugar, and nutmeg’ (Berks. Gloss. E.D.S.); egg-life (see quot.); egg-membrane, a membrane surrounding an egg; = vitelline membrane; † egg-nest = egg-case; † egg-pea, an old variety of garden pea; egg-peg, the sloe; egg-plum, an egg-shaped plum, generally of a light yellow colour; egg-pop (U.S.), ?; egg-posset = egg-flip; egg-pouch, egg-sac = egg-case; egg powder, an artificially prepared substitute for eggs in cookery; egg-purse = egg-capsule; egg-raft, -rope, -string, a connected series of eggs laid by various insects; Egg-Saturday, the Saturday before Shrove Tuesday (Nares); eggs Benedict Cookery (orig. U.S.), a dish consisting of poached eggs placed on a slice of ham on toast, with a covering of hollandaise sauce; egg-slice, a kitchen utensil for removing omelets or fried eggs from the pan; egg(s)-man, a collector of (wild fowls') eggs; egg-spoon, (a) a spoon used in eating eggs; (b) (see quot.); egg-stand, a stand or frame for holding a set of egg-cups; † egg-starch a., ?; egg-stone = oolite; egg-sucker (see quot.); Egg-Sunday, the Sunday before Shrove-Tuesday; egg tempera, a medium of painting consisting of tempera colours mixed with egg in various forms, usu. the yolk; egg-timer, (a) a device for timing the cooking of an egg; (b) a device for boiling an egg; egg-tooth, a small, hard, white protuberance developed in the embryo bird and reptile which is used to crack the egg and is cast off after hatching; egg-trot = egg-wife's trot; egg-tube, an oviduct, esp. of an insect; egg-urchin, the popular name of one or more species of echinus; egg-whip, an egg-whisk; egg-whisk, an utensil for beating eggs to a froth; † egg-wife, a woman who offers eggs for sale; hence egg-wife's trot, the pace at which an egg-wife would ride to market.

1871 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXIV. 572 Some properties of *Egg Albumin. 1919 J. B. Cohen Class-Bk. Chem. II. 94 Of the albumins, egg- and serum-albumin are the most important. 1956 Nature 18 Feb. 330/1 The cells were smeared on microscopical slides coated with egg-albumin or human serum.

1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The profile or contour of the echinus, is enriched with *eggs and anchors, alternately placed.

1871 M. E. Braddon Lovels xxxii. 257 A house glorified within by *egg-and-dart mouldings.

1894 Daily News 8 Sept. 5/3 The gentlemen had a turn in the *egg-and-spoon race, in which the competitors had to punt with one hand and balance an egg on a spoon with the other. 1936 Punch 12 Aug. 187 (caption), I would like you to meet Mr. Scooter, the winner of our Parents' Egg-and-Spoon race.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 434/2 Of the three energids of the *egg-apparatus, one alone is normally functional as the egg.

1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VI. 253 From this ovary, or *eggbag, as it is vulgarly called, the fish's eggs drop one by one into the womb. 1822 Edin. Rev. XXXVII. 127 Thus also spiders carry out about their nest or egg-bag.

1882 Bazaar 15 Feb. 175 My queries as to *egg-binding..my hen budgerigar died *egg-bound.

1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I 54 Small grey Fowls no bigger than a Black-bird, yet lay Eggs bigger than a Magpy's; and they are therefore by Privateers called *Egg-birds. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) IV. 1362 Upon the shore were..some egg birds.

a 1631 Drayton Elegies, Lady Aston's Departure, Leda's brood, Jove's *egg-born issue smile upon the flood!

1854 M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine vii. 118 *Egg-bread which Southern cooks know so well how to make. 1862 in Southern Hist. Soc. Papers (1884) XII. 26 The table was spread with rich egg-bread, fried ham, and pure coffee. 1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter ii. 29 The Missouri supper of fried chicken, egg-bread, butterbeans and corn on the ear.

1772 Forster in Phil Trans. LXII. 422 A sort of Gull, called *Egg-breakers, by the natives.

1920 Brit. Museum Return 121 The *Egg-burster of Encephalous Fly-larvæ. 1953 New Biology XIV. 116 There are three larval stages in most species [of fleas], two in a few, very alike except in size and in the presence of a conical egg-burster on the top of the head of those of the first stage. 1959 Southwood & Leston Land & Water Bugs 411 Egg-burster, a thickened, often sclerotized, usually Y- or T-shaped area on the vertex of the embryonic cuticle; it bears a tooth and its movement is considered to help in rupturing the chorion and egg membranes.

1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 653/2 When *egg-capsules are formed they are often of large size, have tough walls, and in each capsule are several eggs floating in a viscid fluid. 1921 Brit. Museum Return 119 A string of egg-capsules containing young examples of Buscyon perversum. 1936 Russell & Yonge Seas (ed. 2) ii. 50 Common on the under side of rocks are the egg-capsules of the dog-whelk.

1847 Carpenter Zool. 755 The females [Spiders] lay their eggs in these tubes; inclosing them in a silken cocoon, or *egg-case, which they carry about with them when they go to hunt.

1880 Lankester Degen. 20 A structureless particle..thrown off from its parent..known as the *egg-cell. 1879 tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. vi. 121 The human egg-cell is..not essentially different from those of other Mammals.

1784–1815 A. Young Ann. Agric. XXXVIII. 504 (E.D.S.) Farmers..make *egg cheeses..by putting five yolks of eggs to every pound of curd.

1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. iv. i, My *egg-chin'd laureate here.

1692 Ray Phys.-Theol. Disc. iv. (1732) 49 Ovary or *Egg-cluster. 1857 Wood Com. Obj. Sea Shore 52 The egg-cluster from which the sketch was taken.

1894 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Real Charlotte III. xxxv. 23 The *egg-cosy that his wife had crocheted for him. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 3 Nov. 6/2 The sale of pin-cushions, d'oyleys, and knitted egg-cosies was unprecedented. 1909 Lady's World Dec. 284 The egg cosy made in the form of a cock's head and comb. 1967 A. Wilson No Laughing Matter iii. 352 Journalism and worked up righteous anger, that's all she'd written. Egg cosies and cloaks!

1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 270/1 The young..swim about..the instant that they are liberated from the *egg-coverings.

1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iii. v. 172 The *egg-dance..was common enough about thirty years back. 1882 Society 18 Nov. 29/2 The slip is very excusable, for it is an egg-dance.

1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 194/2 A..genus of snakes, Dasypeltis... In Cape Colony these snakes are well known under the name of ‘eyer-vreter’, i.e. ‘*egg-eaters’. 1911 East London Dispatch 1 Sept. 7 (Pettman), The Egg-eater lives almost entirely on eggs, which it eats in a curious fashion. 1969 A. Bellairs Life of Reptiles I. iv. 183 An egg-eater is able to demolish all the eggs of a clutch in rapid succession.

1897 Daily News 19 July 3/1 Natal..now claims to possess an *egg-eating snake of phenomenal abilities. 1931 Times Educ. Suppl. 27 June p. iv/3 A very young egg-eating snake from Africa. 1965 R. & D. Morris Men & Snakes viii. 174 The egg-eating snake eats nothing but eggs and it is not surprising to find that many African birds have evolved elaborate anti-snake devices.

1832 J. Romilly Diary 23 June (1967) 16 *Egg-flip & sack in Sen[ate] H[ouse] at 11. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. ii. iii. 487 Some concentrated liquid nourishment, as a few spoonsful of egg⁓flip or beef-tea.

1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Def., It is lyke a circle that were brused..whiche forme Geometricians dooe call an *egge forme.

1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 323 An *egg-fraise.

1811 W. J. Titford Sks. Hortus Bot. Amer. 53 (heading) *Egg fruit or Mad Apple, Solanum Melongena... It is called in India, Branjaw, in Jamaica, Garden Egg and Valanghanna, Brown Jolly or Bolangena. 1817 W. Darby Geogr. Descr. Louisiana (ed. 2) 222 All the solanums (Irish potatoe, peppers, and egg-fruit,) whose leaves are easily killed by the slightest degree of freezing. 1887 Harper's Mag. Jan. 310/1 A dozen well-grown plants will supply a large family with egg-fruit.

1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 124 An egg..that sprang from the impetus of the tread, the Harvey-antang, or contagion and *egg-fry of Kerckring and de Graaf.

1839 Bailey Festus xxvii. (1848) 324, I am *egg-full of life.

1867 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Culture Wks. (Bohn) III. 227 No more a measure of time than an hour-glass or an *egg-glass.

1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Egg-hole (Derby), a notch cut in the wall of a lode to hold the end of a stempel.

1796 Lamb in Lett. (1849) 25, I have been drinking *egg-hot and smoking Oronooko. 1850 Dickens Dav. Copp. xi. 119 She..made a little jug of egg-hot afterwards to console us. 1886 Folk-Lore Jrnl. IV. 116 At the plentiful supper always provided on this night [sc. Christmas Eve], egg-hot, or eggy-hot, was the principal drink. It was made with eggs, hot beer, sugar, and rum, and was poured from one jug into another until..covered with froth.

1879 tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. i. 12 *Egg-life or embryo-life within the egg-membranes.

1879 *Egg membrane [see egg-life above]. 1885 Science V. 425/1 In the Scombresocidae the entire egg-membrane is covered with strong filaments, which intertwine with those of contiguous eggs. 1893 J. Tuckey tr. Hatschek's Amphioxus 74 The movement of the embryos inside the egg membrane..is a quite peculiar one.

1704 A. van Leeuwenhoek in Phil. Trans. XXV. 1620, I saw exceeding small ones still remaining in the Ovarium or *Egg-nest.

1744 Notes & Observ. Tusser's Husb. 19 Runcival Pease..in their room are got the *Egg-pea, the Sugar-pea, etc.

1878 Britten & Holl. Plant-n., *Egg-peg Bushes, Prunus spinosa L.

1859 All Y. Round No. 1. 17 The persiman is like a large *egg-plum.

1860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. i. (Paterson) 6 Water to make *egg-pop with.

1832 Hone Year-bk. 9 Jan. 61 *Egg-posset, alias Egg-flip, otherwise..‘rum booze’.

1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 72 The only insects..known to spin an *egg-pouch like the spiders are the hydrophili, a kind of water beetle.

1862 Englishwoman's Dom. Mag. Sept 239/2 With the mysteries of making *egg-powder we are quite unacquainted. 1864 Chemist & Druggist 193 It seems that certain cooks..are in the habit of buying and using egg powders. 1907 H. W. Wiley Foods & their Adulteration ii. 115 The egg powder..formed is almost devoid of moisture and..may be kept for a long time without deterioration.

1921 Chambers's Jrnl. 375/2 The cockroach..is very careful in the selection of a suitable site to place her *egg-purse. Ibid., Each egg-purse [of a cockroach] contains sixteen eggs, arranged in two rows, with the ends from which the larvæ will emerge pointing towards the top.

1927 Observer 18 Sept. 8 The *egg-raft is laid by the many species of that group of mosquitoes, the Culicine, represented by our common gnat.

1891 Nature 10 Sept. 457 Each *egg-rope is moored to the bank by a thread.

1857 Wood Com. Obj. Sea Shore 50 All the *egg-sacs would have been found empty. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. ii. ii. 368 They [the Gregarinæ] have been described under a variety of titles, such as worm-nodules, egg-sacs, etc.

1607 Chr. Prince in Misc. Ant. Angl. (1816) 68 On the sixt of february, beeing *egge satterday, it pleased some gentlemen schollers in the towne to make a dauncing night of it..the next Tuesday following beeing shrovetuesday. 1670 Sir R. Baker Theatr. Tri. 37 One trick which he..seems to have learned..from Egge-Saturday in Oxford, to make diversity of meats with diversity of dressing.

1898 A. Meyer Eggs, & how to use Them 43 Poached *eggs..Benedict, split and toast some small muffins; put on each a nice round slice of broiled ham, and on the ham the poached egg; pour over some Hollandaise sauce. 1907 S. T. Rorer Many Ways for cooking Eggs 46 Eggs Bénédict. Separate two eggs [etc.]. 1971 A. Hailey Wheels v. 72 Brett..coerced them into preparing Eggs Benedict, which was never on the standard menu. 1986 Washington Post 16 Feb. e4/2 Eggs Benedict go for $5.95, omelets for $4.95, and the view is priceless.

1796 H. Glasse Cookery xiv. 238 Fry them brown in fresh butter; then take them out with an *egg slice.

1886 E. C. Dawson Bp. Hannington viii. (1887) 107 The enthusiastic *eggsman..scrambled up again with the contents of three nests in his pockets.

Ibid. The egg hunter arms himself with an instrument called an *egg-spoon, like a tiny landing-net, at the end of a long, light rod.

1839 Rep. Constabulary Force Commissioners 25 in Parl. Papers [169] XIX, P— slipped into the parlour and brought out a watch and a silver *egg-stand. 1909 Bennett Old Wives' Tale ii. i. §3 The resplendent egg-stand holding twelve silver-gilt egg-cups and twelve chased spoons to match. 1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 136 Double-decker egg stands..made to hold 12, 24 or 48 eggs, were to be found in all Victorian and Edwardian larders.

1630 Taylor Workes (N.) Whose calves *eg-starch may in some sort be taken As if they had been hang'd to smoake like bacon.

1822 G. Young Geol. Surv. Yorksh. Coast (1828) 68 This rock is called oolite, or *egg-stone.

1888 Rolleston & Jackson Forms Anim. Life (ed. 2) 222 In Nephelis and Clepsine..‘*egg-strings’, produced by the continuous division of a cell, lie free in the capsular cavity.

c 1865 Ld. Brougham in Circ. Sc. I. Introd. Disc. 22 A bird called the Toucan, or *Egg-sucker, which chiefly feeds on the eggs found in..nests.

1899 C. J. Herringham Bk. of Art of Cennino Cennini 207 For Pacheco *egg-tempera meant the whole egg with fig-milk. 1922 R. Fry Let. 12 Apr. (1972) II. 525 [Picasso]'s doing wonderful little pictures of nudes..in egg tempera, like some highly finished miniatures by Giulio Romano or Sebastiano del Piombo. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia IX. 877/2 The earliest European forerunners of a controlled egg-tempera medium are found among the religious paintings of the Byzantine era.

1884 *Egg-timer [see egg n. 6 b]. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Egg-timer, an apparatus for the automatic cooking of eggs. It consists of a vessel containing boiling water and a series of..baskets... When the time has elapsed the basket automatically rises out of the water. 1962 TV Times 28 Dec. 6/2 An egg-timer, I repeated with the assurance of a man who knew which way the sand trickled.

1893 A. Newton Dict. Birds 36 The ‘*egg-tooth’..is developed in the embryos of all birds as a small whitish protuberance or conglomeration of salts of calcareous matter, deposited in the middle layers of the epidermis of the tip of the upper bill. 1959 New Biology XXX. 87 In viviparous reptiles the eggshell is reduced to a thin, soft membrane or lost entirely, and the egg-tooth, which assists the young of oviparous forms to break out of their eggs, is sometimes rudimentary. 1960 M. Burton Wild Animals 145 The young grass snakes..make their way out of the egg by tearing several rents in it with a special egg-tooth projecting from the front of the jaws.

1826 Kirby & Spence Entomol. IV. xlii. 148 The ovaries, or *egg-tubes as they are sometimes called. 1895 D. Sharp in Cambr. Nat. Hist. V. 137 The number of egg-tubes varies greatly in different Insects.

1843 Embleton in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 11. 51 E. Sphæra. ― Common *Egg Urchin. E. miliaris. ― Purple-tipped Egg Urchin.

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Egg-whip. 1910 Daily Chron. 23 Apr. 7/5 Beat with an egg whip until smooth and glossy.

1868 M. Jewry Warne's Model Cookery 36/1 *Egg whisk, for beating eggs. 1882 [see whisk n.¹ 3]. 1924 Week-end Bk. 261 A large jug, and an egg-whisk..efficiently replace the [cocktail] shaker.

1659 H. H. Burnel Plutus C ij b, A Bawd, a scolding *Eggwife.

Add: [I.] [1.] c. Without a or pl. The content of the egg of a hen or other domestic fowl, esp. as used for food.

1854 [see guazzo n.]. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 467 Fowl and rice croquettes... Dip the balls into egg, sprinkle them with bread crumbs, and fry a nice brown. 1933 L. Bloomfield Language xvi. 265 Egg is in English a bounded noun, (the egg, an egg) but occurs also as a mass noun (he spilled egg on his necktie). 1960 A. E. Bender Dict. Nutrition 43/1 Egg is a valuable source of protein, iron, fat, and vitamins A, B₁ and B₂. 1972 A. Craig Discover Lovelier You iv. 58/2 Egg is a time-honored conditioner for dry hair. 1986 B. Fussell I hear Amer. Cooking iv. xiv. 268 The most ‘common sort’ of pancake, made simply of egg, flour, and milk.

[II.] [7.] egg-butt Horsemanship, used attrib. to designate a type of snaffle in which the connection between the mouthpiece and each side-ring is an egg-shaped joint.

1923 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Ann. Price List 1923–24 243/2 (heading) *Egg butt race bridoon. 1927 S. G. Goldschmidt Bridle Wise vi. 35, I recommend egg-butt joints, as they present a smooth surface to the corners of the lips and cannot wound them. 1986 Your Horse Sept. 27/1, I ride him in a lightweight German eggbutt snaffle.

egg cream U.S., any of various kinds of rich sweet drink made orig. with eggs and milk or cream and more recently with milk, soda water, and flavouring.

1841 L. Bryan Kentucky Housewife 326 *Egg cream. Beat very well the yolks of half a dozen eggs... Make a pint of sweet cream [etc.]. 1906 Soda Fountain May 23/1 Egg Drinks... Egg Cream..15c. 1947 I. Shulman Amboy Dukes i. 4 The strollers..stood at the open windows of candy stores..drinking..three-cent egg creams. 1975 New Yorker 21 July 22/1 My beloved wife, Whitney, began introducing New York delicacies like borscht, egg creams, and matzohbrei to the populace. 1988 M. Stewart Quick Cook Menus 213 (caption) This chocolate fizz, served in a ruby goblet in front of a leaded window in the hall, is similar to an egg cream—a traditional New York drink that contains neither egg nor cream.

egg roll orig. U.S., a Chinese roll made of diced meat or prawns, and shredded cabbage with other vegetables, fried in a casing of thin egg-dough; also, loosely, = spring roll s.v. spring n.¹ 7 a.

1938 S. Middleton Dining, Wining & Dancing in N.Y. v. 75 Mister Lum..is famous for his..*egg rolls, Canton style. 1973 Welcomat (Philadelphia) 10 Oct. 1/1 A gaily-decorated truck selling eggrolls. 1984 Yan-Kit So Classic Chinese Cookbk. 196 Spring rolls, also known as egg rolls, comprise a filling wrapped in a thin dough, deep-fried until crispy. The more tasty the filling and the thinner the dough wrapper, the more delicious the spring roll.

▸ egg noodle n. a wheat noodle made with egg; chiefly in pl.

1884 Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate 2 Oct. 1/7 The Board of Health has caused several arrests of manufacturers of ‘*egg noodles’ and ‘vermicelli’, because of using..a cheap and injurious substitute for eggs and saffron. 1924 N.Y. Times 19 June 3/1 There will be wiener schnitzel with paprika sauce, parsley potatoes and egg noodles for those from the Middle and Northwest. 1998 BBC Vegetarian Good Food May 36/2 This dish is dairy-free, but serve it with rice noodles rather than egg noodles for a vegan dish.

▪ II. egg, v.¹
    (ɛg)
    [a. ON. eggja (Da. egge), = edge v.¹]
    1. trans. To incite, encourage, urge on; to provoke, tempt. Cf. edge v.¹ Const. († til), to, unto (an action, enterprise, etc.). Obs. exc. as in 2.

c 1200 Trin Coll. Hom. 195 Alse þe deuel him to eggede. c 1230 Hali Meid. 3, & eggeð þe to brudlac. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 278 Þe clergi of Scotland egged þer kyng Jon. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1130 He sent enuiously to þemperour and egged him swiþe bi a certayne day bataile to a bide. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶894 Þei þat eggen or consenten to þe sinne bien partiners of þe sinne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 136 Eggyn, or entycyn to doon well or yvele [P. eggen, or styre to gode or yll], incito, provoco. 1508 Barclay Shyp of Folys 141 b, He shall haue frendes and felawys at honde, To egge him forwarde vnto vnhappynes. 1513 Douglas æneis v. viii. 17 Thai foyne at vthir, and eggis to bargane. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 299/1 Especiallie being egged..by his brethren taking it to stomach. a 1593 H. Smith Wks. (1866–7) I. 379 A man which sharpens his enemy with taunts, when he would egg him to fight. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. xi. (1622) 21 The like occasion egged him to the like cruelty against Semp. Gracchus. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 93 Their suspicions egged them to cruelty.

2. with on. Const. to, etc.

1566 Drant Horace' Sat. v. D b, Ile egge them on to speake some thyng, whiche spoken may repent them. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits iv. (1596) 45 Sibils and Bacchants..men think are egged on by some diuine inspiration. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. iii. xxxii, That foregoing light That egs us on 'cording to what we have liven. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 328 Mathew Hazard [was] a main Incendiary in the Rebellion, violently egged on by his wife. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. II. 257 Thus they egg Men on to old Age..till they learn too late. 1747 Carte Hist. Eng. I. 21 Everything conspired to..egg them on to the undertaking. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. x. (1876) 207 Schemers and flatterers would egg him on.

▪ III. egg, v.²
    (ɛg)
    [f. the n.]
    trans. a. In comb. to egg and crumb: to cover with yolk of egg and crumbs. b. To pelt with (rotten) eggs. c. intr. To collect (wild fowls') eggs.

1833 Marryat P. Simple i, ‘They be all hegged and crumbed.’ 1857 Baltimore Sun 1 Aug. (Bartlett) The abolition editor of the Newport News, was egged out of Alexandria..on Monday. 1864 Mrs. H. Wood Trevlyn Hold III. ix. 131 To see a sweetbread egged and crumbed. 1883 Harper's Mag. Oct. 806/1 An Iowa poet has been egged by the populace. 1887 E. C. Dawson Bp. Hannington viii. 106 They..fished, egged..and explored to their heart's content.