Egg

n. [A-S. æg, Icel. egg, Sw. ägg, Dan. äg, O. H. Ger. agi, ei, N. H. Ger. & D. ei, Ir. ugh, Gael. abh, Lat. ovum, Gr. ᾠόν.]

1Sense 1. A spheroidal body formed in the female of animal species, containing the germ of a new individual of the species, within a shell or firm membrane.

☞ The shell also contains more or less of yolk, and within the yolk what is called the germinal vesicle, or germ-cell. Part of the yolk (or all, when there is but little, as in the mammals) is used in the first steps of development, and the rest, along with the white, if any exists, in the subsequent growth of the embryo. The membrane enveloping the yolk is the vitelline membrane. The germinal vesicle has its nucleal spot, or germinal dot. In a later stage the egg contains the embryo in a state of development.

2Sense 2. Any thing resembling an egg in form.

Egg and anchor (Arch.), an egg-shaped ornament, alternating with another in the form of a dart, used to enrich the ovolo; — called also egg and dart, and egg and tongue. Ogilvie. — Egg-development, the process of the development of an egg, the study of which pertains to the science of embryology. — Egg-state, the condition of an egg; the earliest stage of a species while it is yet in the egg, either before germination has commenced, or before the embryo is fully developed. Carpenter.

[imp. & p. p. EGGED; p. pr. & vb. n. EGGING.] [See EDGE, v. t.] To urge on; to instigate; to incite; to edge. They egged him forward still not to spare the nobility. North.