Egg (&ebreve_;g), n. [OE., fr. Icel. egg; akin to AS. æg (whence OE. ey), Sw. ägg, Dan. æg, G. & D. ei, and prob. to OSlav. aje, jaje, L. ovum, Gr. 'w,on, Ir. ugh, Gael. ubh, and perh. to L. avis bird. Cf. Oval.] 1. (Popularly) The oval or roundish body laid by domestic poultry and other birds, tortoises, etc. It consists of a yolk, usually surrounded by the “white” or albumen, and inclosed in a shell or strong membrane.
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2. (Biol.) A simple cell, from the development of which the young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell.
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3. Anything resembling an egg in form.
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&hand_; Egg is used adjectively, or as the first part of self-explaining compounds; as, egg beater or egg-beater, egg case, egg ladle, egg-shaped, etc.
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Egg and anchor (Arch.), see egg-and-dart in the vocabulary, below; -- called also egg and dart, and egg and tongue. See Anchor, n., 5. Ogilvie. -- Egg cleavage (Biol.), a process of cleavage or segmentation, by which the egg undergoes endogenous division with formation of a mass of nearly similar cells, from the growth and differentiation of which the new organism is ultimately formed. See Segmentation of the ovum, under Segmentation. -- Egg development (Biol.), the process of the development of an egg, by which the embryo is formed. -- Egg mite (Zoöl.), any mite which devours the eggs of insects, as Nothrus ovivorus, which destroys those of the canker worm. -- Egg parasite (Zoöl.), any small hymenopterous insect, which, in the larval stage, lives within the eggs of other insects. Many genera and species are known.
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