These idioms all use the word ‘egg’ or are related to eggs in some way. Here are meanings and examples of useful egg idioms in English.
Meaning: a person who, although they seem to be good, turns out to be a very bad person; one who cannot be trusted.
Example: “I’m telling you, Robert is just a bad egg. I wouldn’t trust him if I were you.”
Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
Meaning: to risk losing everything by having only one plan or idea and depend entirely on it for your success.
Example: “I know you want to be an actor, but you still need to have a good education. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Meaning: to urge, dare, or encourage someone to do something that is usually foolish, dangerous, silly, mischievous, or embarrassing.
Example: “His friends egged him on to get on stage and do his stand-up routine.”
Meaning: to be publicly embarrassed; to appear foolish or ridiculous.
Example: “He had egg on his face after claiming he could bench press 300 pounds.”
Meaning: an angry and rude way to tell them to go away, similar to take a hike, piss off, go jump off a log, get lost, etc.; an indignant response to a comment, similar to go to hell.
Example: “The old man told the boy to get off his lawn, to which the boy responded, ‘go suck an egg.’
Meaning: a good, nice, and trustworthy person.
Example: “That Peter is a good egg. He’s always helping out.”
Meaning:a score of zero in a sports game or competition; a raised lump on the head resulting from a blow or impact to the head; a failure; a defeat; zero success.
Example: “We played hard but ended up with a big fat goose egg. Not one goal!”
If We Had Ham We Could Make Ham and Eggs, If We Had Eggs
Meaning: A joke phrase used to emphasize the fact that one lacks what is necessary to do some specific thing or take some specific action.
Example: “If we just had more money we could go on a long vacation.” “Yeah, and if we had eggs we could make ham and eggs, if we had eggs.”
Meaning: used by children (or by adults with humor) as a way to urge others to join in. It especially refers to jumping into water.
Example: “Last one in is a rotten egg!” yelled Susan, jumping into the pool.
Meaning: an amount of money set aside and saved for a special purpose in the future, often for retirement or for difficult times.
Example: “He worked hard to build a nest egg throughout his career, but ended up spending it all on hospital bills when his wife became ill.”
Meaning: to behave in a very cautious or careful manner to avoid upsetting someone; to be careful what you do or say around someone because they are quite sensitive, easily angered, or offended.
Example: “After the accident, Simpson spent a week walking on eggshells until his boss convinced him that nobody blamed him.”
