Egg
Egg (eg) , noun
[Old English, from Icelandic egg; akin to Anglo-Saxon ag (whence Old English ey), Swedish agg, Danish ag, German & Dutch ei, and prob. to OSlav. aje, jaje, Latin ovum, Greek 'w,o`n, Ir. ugh, Gael. ubh, and perh. to Latin avis bird. Compare 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.
(Biology) A simple cell, from the development of which the young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell.
3.
Anything resembling an egg in form.
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.
Collocations (5)
Egg and anchor (Architecture) , see egg-and-dart in the vocabulary, below; -- called also egg and dart, and egg and tongue. See Anchor, n., 5. — Ogilvie
Egg cleavage (Biology) , 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 (Biology) , the process of the development of an egg, by which the embryo is formed.
Egg mite (Zoology) , any mite which devours the eggs of insects, as Nothrus ovivorus, which destroys those of the canker worm.
Egg parasite (Zoology) , any small hymenopterous insect, which, in the larval stage, lives within the eggs of other insects. Many genera and species are known.
Egg , transitive verb
[Old English eggen, Icelandic eggja, from egg edge. {not transcribed}. See Edge.]
To urge on; to instigate; to incite{not transcribed}
Adam and Eve he egged to ill.
[She] did egg him on to tell
How fair she was.