to egg on
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To incite, to urge on. Here egg is simply another form of edge — to edge on, i.e. to drive one nearer and nearer to the edge until the plunge is taken.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to egg on” mean?
To incite, to urge on. Here egg is simply another form of edge — to edge on, i.e. to drive one nearer and nearer to the edge until the plunge is taken.
Is “to egg on” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.