effusive 
Hence 2. Making an extravagant or undue 
exhibition of feeling. 
He [Dante] is too sternly touched to be effusive and 
tearful. Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 121. 
3. Poured abroad ; spread or poured freely. 
With thirsty sponge they rub the tables o'er 
(The swains unite the toll); the walls, the floor, 
Wash'd with th' e/itsive wave, are purg'd of gore. 
Pope, Odyssey, xxii. 
effusively (e-fu'siv-li), adv. In an effusive 
manner. 
effusiveness (e-fu'siv-nes), n. The state of be- 
ing effusive. 
effected (e-flek'ted), a. In entom., bent out- 
ward suddenly. 
efreet (e-fref), . Same as afrit. 
"Wadna ye prefer a meeracle or twa?" asked Sandy. 
. . . "Orafewe/reete?" added I. 
Kingsley, Alton Locke, xxi. 
eft 1 (eft), n. [< ME. efte, eefte, more common- 
ly mete, euete, later ewte, and with the n of the 
indef. art. an adhering, nefte, newte, now usu- 
ally newt, q. v. Eft, though now only provin- 
cial, is strictly the correct form.] A newt ; any 
small lizard. 
Efts, and foul-wing' d serpents, bore 
The altar's base obscene. 
Mickk, Wolfwold and Ulla. 
eft 2 t (eft), adv. [ME. eft, ceft, efte, < AS. eft, 
teft = OS. eft = OFries. eft, afterward, again: 
see after.'] After; again; afterward; soon. 
Til that Kynde cam Clergie to helpen, 
And in the myrour of Myddel-erde made hym eft to loke. 
Piers Plowman (C), xiv. 132. 
Let him take the bread and eft the wine in the sight of 
the people. 
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc., 1860), p. 267. 
efter (ef'ter), adv. and^rep. Obsolete and dia- 
lectal form of after. 
eftestt. A form occurring only in the following 
passage, where it is apparently either an inten- 
tional blunder put into the mouth of Dogberry, 
or an original misprint for easiest (in early print 
eafiest or efiest) . The alleged eft, ' convenient, handy, 
commodious,' assumed from this superlative, is other- 
wise unknown. 
Yea, marry, that's the eftest way. 
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 2. 
eftsoont, eftsoonst (eft-son', -s6nz'), adv. [< 
ME. eftsone, eftsones, again, soon after, also, be- 
sides, < eft, again, + sone, soon: see eft 2 and 
soon.] 1. Soon after; soon again; again; anew; 
a second time; after a while. 
Shal al the world be lost eftsones now? 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 303. 
Pharaoh dreamed to have seen seven fair fat oxen, and 
eftsoons seven poor lean oxen. 
Tyndale, Ans. t. " 
ns. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc. , 1860), p. 249. 
2. At once; speedily; forthwith. 
Ye may eftsones hem telle, 
We usen here no wommen for to selle. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 181. 
Sir, your ignorance 
Shall eftsoon be confuted. 
Chapman, All Fools, ii. 1. 
Hold off, unhand me, greybeard loon ! 
Eftioons his hand dropt he. 
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, i. 
6. g. An abbreviation of the Latin exempli gra- 
tia: for the sake of an example; for example. 
Ega (e'gii), n. [NL. (Castelnau, 1835) ; a geo- 
graphical name.] A j ^ 
genus of adephagous 
ground-beetles, of the 
family Carabidce, con- 
taining about 12 spe- 
cies, nearly all from 
tropical countries, but 
two of them North 
American, E. sallei 
and E. Icetula. Also 
called Chalybe, Selina, 
and Steleodera. 
egad (e-gad'), interj. 
[A minced form of 
the oath by God. Of. 
ecod, gad?, etc.] An 
exclamation express- 
ing exultation or sur- 
prise. 
Egad, that's true. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 1. 
egalt (e'gal), a. and n. [< ME. egal, < OF. egal, 
esgal, igat, egual, F. e'gal, < L. cequalis, equal: 
see equal, the present E. form.] I. a. Equal. 
Egal to myn offence. Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 137. 
Was ever seen 
An emperor in Rome thus overborne, 
Troubled, confronted thus ; and, for the extent 
Of egal justice, used in such contempt 1 
Shak., Tit. And., iv. 4. 
II. n. An equal. 
Ef a sallei. 
{ Line shows natural size. ) 
1852 
e'galite' (a-gal-e-ta'), n. [F.] Equality. This 
word is familiar in the French revolutionary phrase liber- 
te, egalite, fraternite (liberty, equality, fraternity), and as 
the surname taken by Philip, Duke of Orleans (Philippe 
Egalite), as a token of his adherence to the revolution ; 
he was nevertheless guillotined by the revolutionists in 
1793. 
egality (e-gal'i-ti), n.; pi. egalities (-tiz). [< ME. 
egalite, egalitee, < OF. egalite, egaute, F. egalite, 
< L. cequalita(t-)s, equality: see equality, the 
present E. form.] Equality. [A rare Galli- 
cism.] 
She is as these martires in egalite. 
Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
That cursed France with her egalities. 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
egallyt, adv. Equally. 
egalnesst, Equalness; equality. Nares. 
Egean, a. See JEgean. 
egence (e'jens), . [< L. egen(t-)s, ppr. of 
egere, be in want, be needy. Of. indigent, in- 
digence.] The state or condition of suffering 
from the need of something; a strong desire 
for something; exigence. Grote. 
6ger 1 t, See eagerl. 
eger 2 , . See eager 2 . 
eger 3 (e'ger), n. [Origin not obvious.] In 
oot., a tulip appearing early in bloom. 
egeran (eg'e-ran), n. [< Eger, in Bohemia, 
where idocrase occurs.] la mineral., same as 
vesuvianite. 
Egeria (e-je'ri-a), . [L. Egeria, JEgeria, Gr. 
'Hyepia.] 1. In Bom. myth., a prophetic nymph 
or divinity, the instructress of NumaPompilius, 
and invoked as the giver of life. 2. [NL.] 
In zoiil. : (a) A genus of brachyurous decapod 
crustaceans, of the family Haiidw, or spider- 
crabs. E. indica is an Indian species. Leach, 
1815. (6) A genus of bivalve shells, of the fam- 
ily Donacidte, generally considered to be the 
same as Galatea. Soissy, 1805. 3. [NL.] See 
dSgeria. 4. The 13th planetoid, discovered 
by De Gasparis, at Naples, in 1850. 
egerian, a. See agerian, 
Egeriidaa, n. pi. [NL.] See JEgeriidve. 
egerminate (e-jer'mi-nat), r. i. ; pret. and pp. 
egerminated, ppr. egermitiatiitg . [< L. egermi- 
natus, pp. of egerminare, put forth, sprout, < e, 
out, + germinare, sprout: see germinate.'] To 
put forth buds ; germinate. 
egest (e-jesf), v. [< L. egestus, pp. of egerere, 
bring out, discharge, void, vomit, < e, out, + 
gerere, carry.] I. trans. To discharge or void, 
as excrement : opposed to ingest. 
Il.t intrans. To defecate; pass dejecta of 
any kind. 
There be divers creatures that sleep all winter, as the 
bear, . . . the bee, etc. These all wax fat when they sleep, 
and eyext not. Bacon, Nat. Hist., 899. 
egesta (e-jes'ta), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of L. 
egestus, pp. of egerere, void, vomit: see egest.] 
That which is thrown out ; specifically, excre- 
mentitious matters voided as the refuse of di- 
.gestion; excrement, feces, or dejecta of any 
kind: opposed to ingesta. 
During this time she vomited everything, the egesta 
being mixed with bile. Med. Sews, XLI. 340. 
egestion (e-jes'chon), n. [< L. egestio(n-), < 
egerere, pp. egestus', void, vomit : see egest.] The 
act of voiding the refuse of digestion, or that 
which is voided; defecation; dejection: op- 
posed to ingestion. 
It is confounded with the intestinal excretions and 
egestions. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 13. 
egestive (e-jes'tiv), a. [< egest + -ive.~\ Of or 
for egestion: opposed to ingestive. 
egg 1 (eg), n. [< ME. egge, pi. egges, eggis (of 
Seand. origin, < Icel. egg, etc., below), parallel 
with ME. ey, eye, ay, ai, pi. eyren, eiren, ayren, 
eren, etc. (this form, which disappeared in the 
first half of the 16th century, would have given 
mod. E. "ay, riming with day, etc.), of native 
origin : namely, < AS. (eg, rarely ceig (in comp. 
also aiger-), pi. cegru, = D. ei = MLG. ei, eiq, 
LG. ei = OHG. ei, pi. eigir, MHG. ei, Or. ei, pi. 
eier, = Icel. egg = Sw. dgg = Dan. <eg = Goth. 
*addjis (?), Crimean Goth, ada = Olr. 017, Ir. 
ugh = Gael, ubh = W. my = L. ovum, later 
ovum (> It. uovo = Sp. Imevo = Pg. ovo = Pr. 
ov, uov, ueu = OF. oef, F. ceiif), = Gr. 061; in 
older forms uiov, aeov, dial, ufteov, orig. *l>Fov 
(NGr. avyov, also u6v), = OBulg. jaje (orig. 
*avjet) = Bulg. jajce = Serv. Pol. jaje = Bohem. 
vejce = Buss, (dim.) ynitse, an egg. The orig. 
form of the word is uncertain; not found in 
Skt, etc.] 1. The body formed in the fe- 
males of all animals (with the exception of a 
few of the lowest type, which are reproduced 
egg 
by gemmation or division), in which, by im- 
pregnation, the development of the fetus takes 
place ; an ovum, ovule, or egg-cell ; the pro- 
creative product of the female, corresponding 
to the sperm, sperm-cell, or spermatozoon of 
the male. In biology the term is used in the widest 
possible sense, synonymously with ovunt (which see). In 
its simplest expression, an egg is a mass or speck of proto- 
plasm capable of producing an organism like the parent, 
sometimes by itself, oftener only by impregnation with 
the corresponding substance of the opposite sex ; and In 
low sexless organisms the generative body is indistin- 
guishable as an egg-cell from a sperm-cell. In higher ani- 
mals which have opposite sexes the egg is usually dis- 
tinguished from the spermatozoon by its greater relative 
size and its sphericity. Regarded morphologically, an egg 
has throughout the animal kingdom one single and simple 
character, or morphlc valence, that of the cell, in which 
a cell-wall, cell-substance, a nucleus, and a nucleolus are, 
as a rule, distinguishable. Such an egg is usually of mi- 
croscopic or minute size ; and, however comparatively enor- 
mous an egg may become by the addition of other struc- 
tures, its morphological character as a cell is not altered. 
Thus, an egg, in its primitive undifferentiated and unim- 
pregriated condition, does not differ morphologically from 
any other cell of an animal organism, or from the whole of 
a single-celled animal, nor can the egg of a sponge.for ex- 
ample, be distinguished from that of a woman. Physio- 
logically, however, the egg differs enormously from other 
cells, in that under proper conditions it may germinate or 
build up an entire organism like that of the parent. This 
is usually possible only after impregnation ; but the eggs 
of parthenogenetic insects, as aphids, germinate for sev- 
eral generations without the male element. The parts of 
an egg may be named in general terms, the same as those 
used for other cells ; but special names are usually applied. 
Thus, the nucleolus or smallest and inmost recognizable 
constituent is called the germinal spot or spot of Waa- 
ner; the nucleus is called the germinal vesicle or vesicle 
of Purkinje (in both cases wrongly, because these parts 
are not specially concerned in germination, and may even 
disappear after impregnation, the germinal vesicle proper 
being quite another structure). The common cell-sub- 
stance or protoplasm is the vitellus or yolk ; the cell- wall 
is the vitelline membrane, sometimes called in human 
anatomy the zona pellucida. To these regular constitu- 
ents of an egg may be added others, namely : (1) a large, 
sometimes enormous, mass of granular colored albumen 
or food-yolk, as distinguished from the proper formative 
yolk, as that constituting nearly all the ball of yellow of 
a hen's egg; (2) a great quantity of colorless albumen, 
the "white" of an egg. Both the white and the "yel- 
low," however large in mass, are included in what cor- 
responds to the original cell-wall. But the latter may 
acquire with its great increase in size a special thickness 
and toughness, then becoming (3) the egg-pod,_ putamen, 
or membrana jrutaminis; which may be still further 
thickened and hardened, as (4) the egg-shell, either white 
or variously pigmented. Thus it is seen that the great size 
of some eggs, as those of all birds, most reptiles, many 
batrachians, and some fishes, is due to extraneous sub- 
stances deposited upon the true egg or egg-cell. This pro- 
cess of inclusion may go still further, the egg, or a mass 
of eggs together, being enveloped in a glairy substance, 
eiffr-glite or ooglcea, as that of frogs' eggs, or encased in 
variously and often curiously constructed egg-cases. A 
trace of this is seen in the human egg, where a little gran* 
ular matter, derived from a Croatian follicle and known 
as the discus proligerus, surrounds the egg-cell. Eggs the 
whole of whose yolk is formative, or makes up into the 
body of the embryo after segmentation of the whole vitel- 
lus, are called holoblastic ; others, with a quantity of food- 
yolk which does not undergo segmentation, are meroblas- 
tic. All large eggs, as birds', are meroblastic. In these the 
egg proper is known as the cicatricvla or tread ; and the 
tough, stringy albumen which steadies or buoys the yellow 
in the white forms the chalo2<x. The germ-yolk and the 
food-yolk may occupy different relative positions. (See cen- 
trolecithal, ectolecithoJ, etc.) The organ in which an egg is 
produced, whatever its size, shape, or position in the body 
of the female, is the ovary ; the passage by w Inch it is con- 
veyed to another part of the body, or to the exterior, is an 
oviduct. In the former all the essential pails of the egg 
appear; in the latter various accessory structures, as the 
white and the shell, are deposited. All sexed animals 
' ' lay " eggs ; those in which the egg passes directly out of 
the body, to be hatched outside, are called oviparous; 
those in which the egg severs its vascular or vital connec- 
tion with the parent, but remains inside the body to hatch, 
are ovovimparous ; those whose eggs retain vascular con- 
nection with the parent, as by means of a placenta and an 
umbilical cord, so that they bring forth alive, are vivipa. 
rows. In the last the oviducts are more or less modified, as 
into Fallopian tubes, uterus, and vagina, for the purpose 
of gestation, as distinguished from the incubation of eggs 
laid outside the body. Egg-laying, as of birds, reptiles, 
insects, etc., is called opposition ; many insects have the 
end of the abdomen modified into a special ovipositor. The 
normal and usual shape of an egg is the sphere, preserved 
even in some large eggs, as those of turtles ; many eggs 
are cylindrical, with rounded ends; the largest eggs, with 
a hard chalky shell, as birds', present a characteristic fig- 
ure, the ovoid, varying to more or less conical, or ellipti- 
cal, or subspherical. In such cases the large end is called 
the Inttt, the small end the point. All mammalian eggs, 
excepting those of the oviparous monotremes, are spheri- 
cal and microscopic ; the egg of the human female mea- 
sures about T i, of an inch in diameter. A hen's egg of good 
size weighs about 1.000 grains, of which the white is 600, 
the yellow 300, the shell 100. An ostrich's egg holds about 
3 pints. The largest known egg is that of the extinct 
Madagascan elephant-bird, jEpyomi* maximum, haying a 
capacity of about 12 dozen hens' eggs, and a long axis of a 
foot or more. Ep^a of many animals besides birds are im- 
portant food-products, of great economic and commercial 
value, as turtles' eggs, the roe of many fishes, the coral or 
berry of lobsters, etc. 
He eet many sondry metes, mortrewes, and puddynges, 
Wombe-cloutes and wylde braune & egries yfi-yed with 
grece. Piers Ploimian (B), xiii. 63. 
