EGG • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Egg

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noun

Egg n.

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. Note: 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, n., 5.

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.

verb

Egg v. t. (past & past part. egged; pres. part. 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."

See images of 'Egg'

Etymology of 'Egg'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Egg" Quotes from Famous Books

... nostrums; Digging in leaves and at stumps for centipedes, pismires and spiders, Grubbing in poisonous pools for hot salmanders and toadstools; Charming the bats from the flues, snaring the lizards by twilight, Sucking the scorpion's egg and milking the breast ...

— John Smith, U.S.A. • Eugene Field

... bough to bough, dropping at last easily to the ground. Here he appeared to be rather good-looking, albeit the sun and air had worked a miracle of brown tan and freckles on his exposed surfaces, until the mottling of his oval cheeks looked like a polished bird's egg. Indeed, it struck Mr. Hamlin that he was as intensely a part of that sylvan seclusion as the hidden brook that murmured, the brown velvet shadows that lay like trappings on the white flanks of his horse, the quivering ...

— A Sappho of Green Springs • Bret Harte

... lying-to a few hours in the night, and in the morning resumed our course again, four miles north and south from each other; the hazy weather not permitting us to spread farther. We passed two or three small pieces of rock weed, and saw two or three birds known by the name of egg-birds; but saw no other signs of land. At noon we observed in latitude 48 deg. 36' S., longitude 59 deg. 35' E. As we could only see a few miles farther to the south, and as it was not impossible that there might be land not far off in that direction, I gave orders to steer S. ...

— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 14 • Robert Kerr

... is, and in a good cause, too! Waste no pity on that big black ruffian. He is a villain and a thief, an egg-stealer, an ogre, a devourer of unfledged innocents. The kingbirds are not afraid of him, knowing that he is a coward at heart. They fly upon him, now from below, now from above. They buffet him from one side and from the other. ...

— Fisherman's Luck • Henry van Dyke

... great hollow tree to get the two eggs. Unc' Billy knew that he deserved every bit of it. He felt very miserable, and he was too tired to have a bit of spirit left. So he just sat at the foot of the great hollow tree and said nothing, while old Mrs. Possum bit a hole in the end of one egg and began to suck it. All the time she was looking at Unc' Billy with those sharp eyes of hers. When she had finished the egg, she pushed the ...

— The Adventures of Mr. Mocker • Thornton W. Burgess

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