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

He said he felt "uncomfortable and unsafe" and that the Mosque had been pelted with eggs on one of the protest days.

From BBC

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

“If we as women are putting our eggs on ice for a decade to make sure that our career is thriving,” she said, “we have a prioritization problem.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Corden said they bought two giant Cadbury's Easter eggs, and lay on the hotel bed, opened them and laid there with chocolate eggs on their faces.

From BBC

In the experiment the researchers focused on female moths, which typically lay their eggs on tomato plants so that the larvae can feed on them once hatched.

From BBC