Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Egg

Egg (ĕg), n. [OE., fr. Icel. egg; akin to AS. æg (whence OE. ey), Sw. ägg, Dan. æg, G. & D. ei, and prob. to OSlav. aje, jaje, L. ovum, Gr. ᾠόν, Ir. ugh, Gael. ubh, and perh. to L. avis bird. Cf. 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. (Biol.) 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.

Egg and anchor (Arch.), an egg-shaped ornament, alternating with another in the form of a dart, used to enrich the ovolo; — called also egg and dart, and egg and tongue. See Anchor, n., 5. Ogilvie. — Egg cleavage (Biol.), 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 (Biol.), the process of the development of an egg, by which the embryo is formed. — Egg mite (Zoöl.), any mite which devours the eggs of insects, as Nothrus ovivorus, which destroys those of the canker worm. — Egg parasite (Zoöl.), any small hymenopterous insect, which, in the larval stage, lives within the eggs of other insects. Many genera and species are known.

Egg, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Egged; p. pr. & vb. n. Egging.] [OE. eggen, Icel. eggja, fr. egg edge. √1. See Edge.] To urge on; to instigate; to incite.

Adam and Eve he egged to ill. Piers Plowman.

[She] did egg him on to tell How fair she was. Warner.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.