Egged

/ɛɡd/ verb

Definition

Encouraged or urged someone to do something, often something risky or mischievous, as in 'egged on'; or covered with egg.

Etymology

The 'encourage' sense comes from Old Norse 'eggja,' meaning 'to incite or urge.' This replaced an earlier Old English form and became common in Middle English. The past tense of the verb 'egg' (to urge) is 'egged.'

Kelly Says

The Norse root 'eggja' is actually related to 'edge'—both involve pushing someone toward a boundary—so when you 'egg someone on,' you're linguistically pushing them to the edge of doing something!

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