Egg /(ĕg)/
Egg
n.
- 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. (Popularly)
- A simple cell, from the development of which the young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell. (Biol.)
- Anything resembling an egg in form.
Phrases & Compounds
- Egg and anchor
- see egg-and-dart in the vocabulary, below; -- called also egg and dart, and egg and tongue. See Anchor, n., 5.
- Egg cleavage
- 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
- the process of the development of an egg, by which the embryo is formed.
- Egg mite
- any mite which devours the eggs of insects, as Nothrus ovivorus, which destroys those of the canker worm.
- Egg parasite
- 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
-
To urge on; to instigate; to incite
Adam and Eve he egged to ill.
[She] did egg him on to tell How fair she was.