Egg someone on

Origin of: Egg someone on

Egg someone on

This egg has nothing whatsoever to do with those laid by chickens and other birds. Egg meaning to encourage or to incite is a very old word indeed, deriving from the Old Norse eggja, from which we also derive the word edge. Bringing something to an edge, both literally and figuratively, is to use either physical or verbal incitement to achieve a sharp, specific objective.