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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for May 5, 1999
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egg on
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To egg someone on is to encourage them, or to urge them further in
some pursuit. Example: "When Howard seemed hesitant, Jeff egged him
on, shouting 'Go for it.'"
The phrase might bring to mind an image of pelting someone with eggs
as a strange form of encouragement, or you might think of a British
person calling someone "a good egg," but actually eggs had nothing to
do with its origin.
A person who is being egged on is being edged in some particular
direction. In Old Norse, the word was eggja (to urge), which is
related to our word "edge." The original implication was that the
edge of a sword was being applied as an incentive. A related word was
the Old English eggment (incitement, instigation).
More "pointed" words from the same family:
ear: a spiky seed-head of grain
acute: sharp (as an angle), from Latin acus (needle)
acid: sour-tasting chemical, from Latin acere (to be sharp)
acme: the peak, highest point or perfection
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