egg on

Idioms  

1. Incite, urge ahead, provoke, as in Jack is always egging me on to drive faster, or Seemingly quiet, Margo actually eggs on Donald to quarrel with his staff. This expression has nothing to do with hen's eggs but comes from an Old Norse word, eggja, “to edge.” Both edge on and egg on were used interchangeably, but today the latter is preferred. [c. 1200]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

egg on

Cyber security Professor Alan Woodward from Surrey University told reporters OpenAI had "egg on it's face", and Katie Moussouris from Luta Security went further, suggesting the AI industry is failing to control its dangerous inventions.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Bardella was at an event in Moissac, southwest France, to promote his latest book when a man broke the egg on his head.

From Barron's ● Nov. 29, 2025

Whip up pappa al pomodoro and slide a poached egg on top like a wink.

From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2025

Executives at UnitedHealth Group had egg on their faces on Tuesday morning.

From Slate ● May 14, 2025

She broke an egg on the edge of a mixing bowl.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows