English Explanatory Dictionary

egg on

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To encourage or coax (a person) to do something, especially something foolhardy or reckless.

Pronunciation

en-au-egg on.ogg

Word forms

egg on eggs on egging on egged on

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."

Synonyms

provoke

Derived words

egger-on egger-oner
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on E Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary