egg

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or shell during its development.

   “The Eſtrich (whoſe fethers are fayrer thẽ yᵉ wynges of the ſparow hauke) whẽ he hath layd his egges vpon the grounde, he bredeth them in the duſt, and forgetteth them: ſo that they might be troden with feete, or broken with ſomme wilde beaſt.”

   “[T]hinke him as a Serpents egge, / VVhich hatch'd, vvould as his kinde grovv mischieuous; / And kill him in the ſhell.”

   “An egg properly is that, out of a part vvhereof a living creature is produced, and the reſidue is meat for it, improperly that is an egg out of the vvhole vvhereof, a living creature is bred, as the eggs of Spiders, Ants, Flies.”

   “[T]here is one claſs of quadrupeds that ſeems entirely left to chance, […] Theſe are the quadrupeds that are brought forth from the egg, ſuch as the lizard, the tortoiſe, and the crocodile. […] [T]he numerous brood of eggs are, vvithout farther ſolicitude, buried in the vvarm ſands of the ſhore, and the heat of the ſun alone is left to bring them to perfection.”

   “The egg is, as we have said, a kind of exposed uterus, and place in which the embryo is fashioned: for it performs the office of the uterus and enfolds the chick until the due time of its exclusion arrive, when the creature is born perfect.”

2. (countable, specifically)An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or shell during its development.

   “We made a big omelette with three eggs for breakfast.”

   “I should determine the minimal amount of egg required to make good mayonnaise.”

   “The farmer offered me some fresh eggs, but I told him I was allergic to egg.”

   “There after the images and reliques were orderly disposed, the great Priest compassed about with divers pictures according to the fashion of the Ægyptians, did dedicate and consecrate with certaine prayers a fair ship made very cunningly, and purified the same with a torch, an egge, and sulphur; […]”

   “[T]hey are vp already, and cal for Egges and butter, they vvil avvay preſently.”

3. (broadly, countable)An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or shell during its development.
4. (also, countable, uncountable)Synonym of ovum (“the female gamete of an animal”); an egg cell.

   “In the Fall into the division of labor, [Claude] Lévi-Strauss sees the great hunters trading women to create the exogamous bonds of one hunting band with another. The egg is, but the sperm does. The tiny sperm may be furious in its activity, but its highway to the egg is paved by the alkaline trail set down by the Great Mother.”

   “Although they serve the same function across the plant, animal and fungal kingdoms, sperm and eggs vary wildly in their structure and biochemistry, even among closely related species. […] Many genes that determine sperm and egg structure and biochemistry are rapidly evolving, constantly changing the chemical environment necessary for the sperm to bind to the egg.”

5. (countable)A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).

   “His ſtomacke vvas queaſie (for comming there Coacht) / The jogging had caus’d ſome crudities riſe; / To help it he call’d for a Puritan poacht, / That uſed to turne up the egg’s of his eyes.”

   “There vvas taken a great Glaſs-bubble, vvith a long neck; (ſuch as Chymiſts are vvont to call a Philoſophical Egg) vvhich being fill'd vvith common VVater till the Liquor reach'd about a ſpan above the bubble, and a piece of Paper being there paſted on, vvas put unſtop'd into the Receiver, […]”

6. (countable, uncountable)A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).
7. (countable, uncountable)A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).
8. (countable, uncountable)A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).
9. (countable, dated, uncountable)A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).
10. (countable, uncountable)A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).
11. (countable, dated, figuratively, informal, uncountable)Senses relating to people.

    “a bad egg    a good egg    a tough egg    Cheerio, old egg!”

    “'Good egg!' quoth Moorshed, and brought his hand down on the wide shoulders with the smack of a beaver's tail.”

    “Walter. The woman we passed as we came in just now. Is it his wife? / Cokeson. No, no relation. [Restraining what in jollier circumstances would have been a wink] A married person, though. […] James. A real bad egg.”

    “"She isn't going to sue me for breach of promise?" / "She never had any intention of doing so." / The Honorable Freddie sank back on the pillows. / "Good egg!" he said with fervor. He beamed happily. "This," he observed, "is a bit of all right."”

    “They tell me at Timothy's […] that Dartie has gone off at last. That'll be a relief to your father. He was a rotten egg.”

12. (countable, derogatory, ethnic, figuratively, rare, slur, uncountable)Senses relating to people.
13. (Internet, countable, dated, derogatory, figuratively, uncountable)Senses relating to people.
14. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Senses relating to people.

    “That fits, though, she thought. Wear the same outfit day after day, your brain gets numb to how it looks or feels—Wendy shut the album. No. […] She hated analyzing the whys of [not-out] trans girls. She had always hated it, and she hated how easy it had become; the bottomless hole of egg mode.”

    “So I remember being told, in the very early part of my transition, that I had been, until now, an egg, and—as powerfully rooted in a belief in latency as I found myself[.]”

15. (broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable)Senses relating to people.

    “to crack someone's egg”

16. (New-Zealand, countable, derogatory, figuratively, uncountable)Senses relating to people.

    “Shut up, you egg!”

17. (countable, derogatory, figuratively, obsolete, uncountable)Senses relating to people.

    “VVhat you Egge? / Yong fry of Treachery?”

18. (archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable)Something regarded as containing a (usually bad) thing at an early stage.

    “[S]oe Power of Warre / From the firſt Egge of Libertie, out-Creepes / A fatall Serpent; […]”

    “In ſhort, the Rebellion had been Cruſh'd in the Egg; and One Seaſonable Act of Rigour, had Sav'd the King, the Monarchy, the Church, and the Three Kingdoms.”

19. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)One of the blocks of data injected into a program's address space for use by certain forms of shellcode, such as "omelettes".

    “This approach would be altered for an optimal omelette based exploit. One would spray the heap with the omelette code solely, then load a single copy of the additional shellcode eggs into memory outside the target region for the spray.”

20. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of electroglottography.

verb

1. (transitive)To throw (especially rotten) eggs (noun sense 1.1.1) at (someone or something).

   “The angry demonstrators egged the riot police.”

   “The students were caught egging the principal’s car as a prank.”

   “Like I said before in that chapter, after that ultimate egging, Gay-D didn't mention anything about eggs again, but he meekly ask for us to stop egging Xander's door so that he wouldn't get blamed.”

2. (transitive)To inadvertently or intentionally distort (the circular cross-section of something, such as tube) to an elliptical or oval shape.

   “After I cut the tubing, I found that I had slightly egged it in the vise.”

3. (transitive)To coat (a food ingredient) with or dip (a food ingredient) in beaten egg (noun sense 1.1.1) during the process of preparing a dish.

   “"Jemima, Jemima!—ve'll ha'e the viting biled instead of fried." "Ca'n't, marm," replied Jemima, "they be all hegged and crumbed, with their tails in their mouths."”

   “Then mask another large piece with currant jelly, cover it as before, and after egging the edges, roll them over some coarse sugar, and put them immediately in the oven. Join the remaining pieces in the same manner, two and two, and after egging the edges as before, roll them alternately on pistachios and coarse sugar.”

4. (intransitive)To collect the eggs (noun sense 1.1) of wild birds.
5. (England, dialectal, intransitive, vulgar)To conceive a child, especially recklessly.

   “I was out with my girlfriend in Birmingham, when some colorful local told us not to egg.”

6. (transitive)To encourage, incite, or urge (someone).

   “[Y]it haue vvee one thing in our ſelues and of our ſelues, (euen originall ſinne, concupiſcence or luſt) vvhich neuer ceaſeth too egge vs and allure vs from God, and too ſtaine vs vvith all kinde of vnclennes: […]”

   “Hope like a ſpurre pricketh forvvard, feare like a bridle reſtraineth, hope eggeth onvvard vnto vertue, feare pulleth backe from vice, hope incites vs to obſerue the lavv, feare makes vs feare to trãſgreſſe the lavve.”

   “Thus time paſſing on, within a yeere following, which was in the yeere of our Lord 1261. the king [Henry III of England] ſeeing himſelfe more and more to grow in debt, and not to bee relieued according to promiſe made, but eſpecially being egged (as may be thought) by his brethren taking it to ſtomach, ſent vp to the pope, both for him and his ſonne Edward to bee releaſed of their oth made before at Oxford.”

   “And of them they make tvvo ſorts, the good Angels, and the bad: becauſe the good pricketh a man forvvard, to grace, goodneſſe, vertue, and honeſty: the other eggeth him to levvdneſſe, miſchiefe, ſhame, villany, and all kinde of looſe diſhoneſty.”

   “O harpy Love-rule, murd'rous Hag; / Whither doſt thou blind Mortals drag! / 'Tis thou to Battle eggeſt Kings / As well as Louts to Wreſtling-rings; […]”

name

1. A surname.
2. (informal)A Koenigsegg car.
3. (humorous)The character Solas from the Dragon Age franchise (referring to his baldness).

   “Heh, i don't think she was that cunning to begin with, but romancing the Egg has rubbed off on her ;D.”

   “I'm a big fan of the Egg because he's so complex and intriguing.”

   “Either BioWare got a new voice actor for The Egg (derogatory) or Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will feature another villain to contest against — and knowing Dragon Age like I do, it’s likely the latter.”

4. A market town in Bregenz district, Vorarlberg, Austria.
5. A municipality in Uster district, Zürich canton, Switzerland.