egg on
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Eggon
Etymology
- From Middle English eggen (“to incite; urge on; instigate”), from Old Norse eggja (“to incite”), from egg (“edge”). More at edge.
- A variant of the archaic "edge on."
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
egg on (third-person singular simple present eggs on, present participle egging on, simple past and past participle egged on)
- (transitive, idiomatic) To encourage or coax (a person) to do something, especially something foolhardy or reckless.
- Synonym: provoke
- 1586, William Warner, “The Fourth Booke. Chapter XX.”, in Albions England. Or Historicall Map of the Same Island: […], London: […] George Robinson [and R. Ward] for Thomas Cadman, […], →OCLC, page 86:
- The Neatreſſe longing for the reſt, did egge him on to tell / How faire ſhe vvas, and vvho ſhe vvas.
- 1891 February–December, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter XXV, in In the South Seas […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1896, →OCLC:
- He resented the idea of interference from those who had […] egged him on to a new peril.
- 1892, chapter 35, in Lesslie Hall, transl., Beowulf:
- Then I heard that at morning one brother the other / With edges of irons egged on to murder,
- 1921 October 8 – December 31, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Mostly Sally [The Adventures of Sally], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 23 March 1923, →OCLC:
- She had deliberately egged him on to wreck his prospects.
Derived terms
Translations
to encourage or coax (a person) to do something
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Anagrams
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