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Webster 1913 Edition

Egg

Egg

(ĕg)
,
Noun.
[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.
ὠ,όν
, 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.)
,
see
egg-and-dart
in the vocabulary, below; – called also
egg and dart
, and
egg and tongue
. See
Anchor
,
Noun.
, 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

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Egged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Egging
.]
[OE.
eggen
, Icel.
eggja
, fr.
egg
edge. [GREEK][GREEK]. See
Edge
.]
To urge on; to instigate; to incite[GREEK]
Adam and Eve he
egged
to ill.
Piers Plowman.
[She] did
egg
him on to tell
How fair she was.
Warner.

Webster 1828 Edition

Egg

EGG

,
Noun.
[L. ovum, by a change of g into v.] A body formed in the females of fowls and certain other animals, containing an embryo or fetus of the same species, or the substance from which a like animal is produced. The eggs of fowls when laid are covered with a shell, and within is the white or albumen, which incloses the yolk or yellow substance. The eggs of fish and some other animals are united by a viscous substance, and called spawn. Most insects are oviparous.
Egg, to incite, is a more blunder. [See Edge.]

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