egg

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A rounded object laid by a bird, especially a hen, used as food.

   I had two boiled eggs for breakfast.

2. 2
   noun

   A rounded object laid by birds, insects, and reptiles that a young animal grows inside.

   The bird laid three eggs in the nest.

3. 3
   noun

   The female cell in animals from which a baby can grow.

   The egg is fertilized by the sperm.

4. 4
   verb

   To throw eggs at someone or something.

   The angry crowd egged the politician's car.

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 Eng…

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