egg
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: ĕg
rhymes: -ɛɡ
homophone: Eigg
ipa: /ɛɡ/
note: Indic
ipa: /(j)ɛɡ/
homophone: yegg
enpr: āg
rhymes: -eɪɡ
note: some Canadian and US accents
ipa: /eɪɡ/
Forms: form: eggs
form: egging
form: egged
form: egged
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: egg
form: egg
form: egged
form: egg
form: eggest
form: egged
form: eggedst
form: eggs
form: eggeth
form: egged
form: egg
form: egged
form: egg
form: egged
form: egg
form: -
form: egging
form: egged
Etymology: From Middle English eggen (“to urge on; to entice, incite, lure, tempt; to encourage, exhort, stimulate; (reflexive) to bestir (oneself); to challenge, taunt; to enrage, irritate”), from Old English eggian (“to egg, excite”), from Old Norse eggja (“to incite, egg on”), from egg (“an edge”), from Proto-Germanic *agjō (“a corner; an edge”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).
Cognates
* Danish ægge, egge (“to incite, egg on; to excite, rouse”)
* Swedish egga (“to excite, egg on”)
* Faroese eggja (“to incite, egg on; to sharpen”)
* Icelandic eggja (“to incite, egg on”)
* Old English ġeeġġian (“to incite, egg on”)
* Old Frisian eggia (“to fence”)
* Middle Low German eggen (“to sharpen”)
* Old High German ungiekkōt (“unworked, unformed”)
* Middle High German ecken (“to sharpen”), German ecken (archaic)
Compare typologically another cognate: Russian поощря́ть (pooščrjátʹ), akin to Russian о́стрый (óstryj), ultimately from the same PIE root.
Also compare typologically noncognate: Bulgarian потиквам (potikvam), Czech nabádat (“urge, exhort”), Russian подстрека́ть (podstrekátʹ).
Senses: examples: text: [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: […]
ref: 1571, Arthur Golding, “To the Right Honorable and His Verie Good Lord Edward de Vere Erle of Oxinford, […]”, in John Calvin, translated by Arthur Golding, The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas Harison, and G[e]orge Byshop, →OCLC, 1st part, folio iiij, recto:
text: 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.
ref: 1603, Matthew Kellison, “The First Chapter Sheweth How the Reformers Take Away Hope of Heauen and Feare of Hell, and Consequently Open the Gapp to All Vice”, in A Survey of the New Religion, Detecting Manie Grosse Absurdities which it Implieth. […], Douai: […] Lawrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, 7th book (Conteineth a Suruey of the New Doctrine Concerning Manners, […]), page 510:
text: 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.
ref: 1610 October, John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable, Happening in the Church, with an Vniuersall Historie of the Same. […], 6th edition, volume I, London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for the Company of Stationers, →OCLC, book IV, page 299, column 1:
text: 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.
ref: 1633, Levine Lemnie [i.e., Levinus Lemnius], “Of the Spirit Universall Generally Inspired into the Whole World, and All the Parts thereof. […]”, in T[homas] N[ewton], transl., The Touchstone of Complexions. […], London: […] E[lizabeth] A[llde] for Michael Sparke, […], →OCLC, pages 34–35:
text: 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; […]
ref: 1758, Maphaeus [i.e., Maffeo Vegio], translated by [John Ellis], The Canto Added by Maphæus to Virgil’s Twelve Books of Æneas, from the Original Bombastic, Done into English Hudibrastic; With Notes beneath, and Latin Text in Ev’ry Other Page Annext, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 35, lines 227–230:
text: Nought such do I look to be. / But thou, a deedless man, too much thou eggest me: […]
ref: 1877, William Morris, “Regin Telleth Sigurd of His Kindred, and of the Gold that was Accursed from Ancient Days”, in The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, book II (Regin), page 93:
text: Who is egging thee, king, to go back from the oath thou hast sworn? A worthy king of men should be true to his word. It can never beseem thee, my lord, to break thine oath. Who is egging thee, prince, to slaughter the cattle of thy thanes? It is tyranny for a king to do such deed in his own land.
ref: 1883, “Bersaoglis Vísor, c. 1039. (From the Lives of Kings, especially Kringla, Hulda, Flatey-bok iii. 267–269.)”, in Gudbrand Vigfusson, F[rederick] York Powell, editors, Corpvs Poeticvm Boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue: From the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century […], volume II (Court Poetry), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, book VIII (Christian Court Poetry), § 2 (St. Olaf and Cnut), page 147:
synonyms: word: edge
word: provoke
word: tempt
qualifier: obsolete except in egg on
glosses: To encourage, incite, or urge (someone).
Derived terms: egg on