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

Just to be sure, though, the soldiers cracked two raw chicken eggs on his head and smeared the contents over his body, a traditional method for neutralizing the supernatural.

From The Wall Street Journal

Adults lay their eggs on elm trees and their decline has been linked to the spread of Dutch elm disease across Europe in the 20th Century.

From BBC

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

From Literature

Jackie laid an egg on Tuesday afternoon, offering new hope for babies this year after a previous clutch was eaten by ravens.

From Los Angeles Times

“Look at that goose egg on his head,” another voice said.

From Literature