eggshell meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

eggshell

noun

/ˈɛɡʃɛl/

Etymology From Middle English eggeshell, ege schelle, egg-shel, egg shelle (also as Middle English eye schell, ey-schel, ey-schelle), partially continuing Old English ǣġsċill, ǣġsċyll (“eggshell”), equivalent to egg + shell. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oaierskil (“eggshell”), Dutch eierschaal (“eggshell”), German Eierschale (“eggshell”), Danish æggeskal (“eggshell”), Swedish äggskal (“eggshell”).

The shell around an egg.

Like Egge-ſhels mou'd upon their Surges, crack'd / As eaſily ’gainſt our Rockes.1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 380:

A pale off-white colour, like that of the eggshell of many chickens.

Derived terms: eggshellful, eggshell blue, eggshell rule, walk on eggshells

eggshell

adj

Of a pale yellowish-whitish colour, like that of the eggshell.

The ceiling panels are in off-white eggshell semi-matt finish.1959 January 23, “Single-Unit Diesel Railcars for the Western Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 57:

Exhibiting the thinness, translucency or near-transparency, and fragility of an eggshell.

eggshell porcelain

Very matt, having a low reflexivity, like an eggshell.

This clear varnish is available in gloss, matt and eggshell finishes.