▪ I. † ˈegger, n.1 Obs.
Also 6 eggar.
[f. egg v.1 + -er.]
One who urges on or incites; an instigator. Also egger on.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iv. i. 120, I wish the ill yeare to his Eggars and setters on. 1605 Answ. Supposed Discov. Romish Doctr. 37 The eggers and instruments of all those slaughters. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 524 An egger on, impulsor. |
▪ II. egger, n.2
(ˈɛgə(r))
[f. egg v.2 + -er.]
One who collects (wild fowls') eggs.
| 1834 Audubon Ornith. Biogr. II. 370 Turtles..deposit their eggs in the burning sand, and clouds of sea-fowl arrive every spring for the same purpose. These are followed by persons called ‘Eggers’. 1849 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 310 A class of persons called ‘eggers’, who follow..the avocation of procuring the eggs of wild birds. 1875 Bp. Hannington in Dawson Life (1887) viii. 109 And to the eggers of this isle The emu's egg she shows. 1908 Daily Chron. 16 Apr. 3/7 Driven out of Cornwall by the ‘Eggers’ a few pairs for a time managed to breed..in South Wales. |
▪ III. egger, n.3
(ˈɛgə(r))
Also eggar.
[app. f. egg n. + -er; see quot. 1720.]
A collector's name for various species of moths, esp. the Oak Egger-moth (Bombyx quercus).
| ? 1705 B. Wilkes Bowles New Collection Engl. Moths Plate I, The Great Egger Moth. 1720 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Insects, Descr. Pl. xviii, It spun itself..a britle brown Case b, in form of an Egg, like Caterpillar a in the next plate; for which reason they are called by some the great and small Egger. 1775 M. Harris Eng. Lepid. 21. 1859 W. Coleman Woodlands (1862) 89 The caterpillar of that fine large insect, the Oak Egger-moth, is said to feed on the leaves of the Heath. 1869 E. Newman Nat. Hist. Brit. Moths 41 The Pale Oak Eggar (Trichiura cratægi); the Small Eggar (Eriogaster lanestris); the Oak Eggar (Bombyx quercus); the Grass Eggar (Bombyx trifolii). 1884 Pall Mall G. 12 Aug. 3/2 An oak-egger has been seen in Hyde Park. |