egg on

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]

Example Sentences

Flies do not lay eggs on buried remains, so maggot activity confirmed the murder had to have happened between July 1981 and March 1982 before Karen was put in the shallow grave.

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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.

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If Californians reject Newsom’s plan, that would torpedo his presidential ambitions and leave egg on the face of state Democratic leaders for years, if not a generation.

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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.

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More cheese is then placed on top, and the whole sandwich is typically baked in the oven until the cheese melts and then served with an egg on top.

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