golden egg

English

Etymology

Allusion to “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs”, one of Aesop’s Fables. Attested from the 18th century.^[1] Compare golden goose, kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Noun

golden egg (plural golden eggs)

1. A source of consistent profit or advantage, or the profit gained by such advantage.
   • 1887, Oliver Huckel, “The New Mother Goose”, in The Record. ’87, University of Pennsylvania, page 55:

     Here’s golden eggs in plenty, why not the Golden Age? —
     The time the world is waiting, the day-dream of the sage;
     […]
     The golden eggs of Eight-Seven, after four years’ incubation,
     Should hatch a brood to scratch the good from out the whole creation,

   • 1904, “Story of the Jobbers-Broker’s Union”, in Truth Christmas Number, page 28:

     How certain Stockbrokers, not content with the golden eggs laid for them by a complaisant Goose, attempt to increase the output.

   • 2004, Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale: The 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How To Avoid Them, page 24:

     The more consistently you bring the same “golden egg” set of factors to a selling effort (integrity, professionalism, and reliability), the more probable a golden-egg outcome remains. On the other hand, with every new pose and posture you add to your bag of selling tricks, a golden-egg outcome becomes less and less probable, or more and more haphazard.

   • 2005 October 15, Hattie Klotz, “The golden egg”, in Ottawa Citizen, page I2:

     With sales about to shoot into the stratosphere and a new office in the works, sleep is relegated to a poor third place. By day, Burgener is setting up the new office and fielding media requests, by night, he sits down to start the real work of programming for his golden egg, 20Q. Burgener’s invention, 20Q, is poised to become the next toy megahit.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see golden,‎ egg.

References

1. “golden egg, n.” under “golden, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2018.