8 NAME AND SHAPE. 
Tennyson uses the simile, “ bald as an egg.” 
From the Anglo-Saxon oeg comes the word 
we use to-day. Chaucer and other early writers 
use the forms ey, eg, egge. 
The verb to egg, meaning to incite, is now 
nearly obsolete. 
“ Thou should’st be prancing on thy steed 
To egg thy soldiers forward in thy wars.” 
The egg and dart, egg and tongue, egg and 
anchor, are ornaments for the ovolo molding in 
architecture. 
Ege-shell china is so-called from its extreme 
delicacy. The egg-plant is named from the 
shape of its fruit. 
Nest eggs and bad eggs are phrases often 
used metaphorically. 
The size of the egg has long been a standard 
of measure, and its specific gravity a test for 
solutions. 
