Idiom
egg on
Meaning
To encourage or coax (a person) to do something, especially something foolhardy or reckless.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Stop egging him on — he will regret it later.”
“The crowd kept egging the driver on until he agreed to race.”
“Though she knew it was unwise, her friends egged her on, and she found herself standing on the edge of the diving board at midnight.”
Examples
simple
“Stop egging him on — he will regret it later.”
contextual
“The crowd kept egging the driver on until he agreed to race.”
complex
“Though she knew it was unwise, her friends egged her on, and she found herself standing on the edge of the diving board at midnight.”
Origin
From Middle English *eggen*, meaning to incite or instigate, from the Old Norse *eggja*. The root is derived from *egg*, or edge, and survives as a variant of the now archaic phrase to edge on.
Key words
Related idioms
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