ˈegg-shell
Also eggshell.
[f. egg n. + shell.]
a. The shell or external calcareous covering of an egg; often as a type of worthlessness or of fragility.
| c 1300 K. Alis 577 He fondith to creope..Ageyn into the ay-schelle. 1471 Ripley Compl. Alch. viii. in Ashm. (1652) 171 Fro Eggshells calcynyd. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 36, I gat not so muche..As..a poore egshell. 1599 H. Buttes Diet's Dry Din. To Rdr., I haue put into a by-dish (like Eg-shelles in a Saucer) what worthily may breed offence. a 1618 Raleigh Prerog. Parl. 57 Without the Kings acceptation, both the publicke and priuate aduices be but as emptie Egg-shels. 1799 Hatchett in Phil. Trans. LXXXIX. 328 The carbonate of lime exceeds in quantity the phosphate..in the egg shells of birds. 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. V. 63/1 The pores of the egg-shell may be easily stopped by any..oily matter. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1213 He..babbled..How Enid never..cared a broken egg-shell for her lord. |
b. attrib., chiefly similative. egg-shell china: a porcelain ware of extreme thinness and delicacy.
| 1835 Willis Pencillings II. xlv. 52 We..stepping into an egg-shell caique, crossed the Golden Horn. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life vii. Wks. (Bohn) II. 424 We come out of our egg-shell existence. 1861 C. P. Hodgson Resid. Japan 31 Fragile and sweetly pretty little egg-shell porcelain cups. 1887 Times 11 Aug. 13/2 The egg-shell sides of the Mercury. |
c. Used attrib. or as adj. as a term of colour or of a paint finish intermediate between flat and glossy, e.g. eggshell enamel, egg-shell finish, egg-shell glaze. (See also quot. 1929).
| 1894 F. B. Gardner Painters' Encycl. 119 Egg-shell gloss, a term frequently used by painters. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 8/3 A costume of egg-shell blue cheque silk. 1908 Daily Chron. 12 Mar. 3/3 The sun is reflected by its front of dull white terra-cotta stone with egg-shell glaze. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 27 Apr. 5/2 People argue of paints, and enamels, and varnishes, and..whether the true ‘egg-shell gloss’ has been obtained or not. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Sept. 684/1 That beautiful, characteristic, velvety, egg-shell enamel is highly artistic. 1925 Arts & Decoration Mar. 82/2 The egg-shell finish of the freshly laid egg..is the dull finish the decorators now prefer. 1929 A. E. Owen-Jones Retail Stationer's Handbk. 193 Eggshell Finish, a finish imparted to notepapers by omitting the calendering; the surface is dull, and is covered with pin-point pores. 1936 C. Day Lewis Friendly Tree vii. 96 A sky of egg-shell blue. 1943 W. Wilcox in 55 Short Stories from N. Yorker (1949) 139 She was wearing dark blue..and a neat little eggshell blouse. 1953 Gloss. Paint Terms (B.S.I.) 27 The following stages in increasing order of gloss are normally recognized:—Flat (or matt)... Eggshell flat. Eggshell gloss. 1955 E. Bowen World of Love v. 88 Electric candelabra..round all the eggshell walls. 1958 Woman 22 Feb 2/1 Gloss, matt, flat, eggshell paints go over themselves or each other. |
Hence eggshell-ful, as a measure of quantity.
| 1460–70 Bk. Quintessence 29 An eye-schelle ful of good brennynge water. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 73 Drink an egshelfull of the iuice of Betony. 1746 Berkeley Sec. Let. Tar-water §14 An egg-shell full of tar. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 247, I found about an Egg-Shell full of purulent Serosity. |
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▸ to walk on eggshells and variants: to be extremely cautious in one's actions or words, esp. so as to avoid offending or angering others. Cf. to tread upon eggs at egg n. 4a(b).
| 1860 W. Collins Woman in White (new ed.) II. ix. 213 With that woman for my enemy,..I walk, in your English phrase, upon egg-shells! 1913 E. Rhys Lyric Poetry iv. 36 To speak of these things is to walk on egg-shells. 1969 R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 137 During this time we sensed that the men on both sides were walking on eggshells, everyone very careful and circumspect. 1999 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) June 54/3 Danger sign 4. He suffers from mood swings—you tread on eggshells because there's no knowing what will set him off. |