to egg someone on 怂恿、鼓动

成语 to egg someone on 其实跟鸡蛋一点关系都没有，它的意思是怂恿、鼓动某人去做他们并不特别想做的事情，而结果很可能令当事人当众出丑或犯错误。

例句

“Why on earth did you try that jump on your bike?”

“These boys were egging me on and I didn't want to seem to be a coward”

I would never have asked her out if you hadn't egged me on. You knew she would say no, didn't you? I feel terrible now.

We had to arrest your son for throwing stones at cars. We don't think he was the ringleader but some older children were egging him on.

请注意

另一个含有 egg 的表达是 with egg on someone's face。可想而知，脸上挂了鸡蛋该有多么不舒服，所以我们可以用这个短语形容某人处于难堪、尴尬的情形中。

例句

He was left with egg on his face when he spilled his coffee all over the spreadsheets in the finance meeting.

I was left with egg on my face after saying I could do the job in a day. It took me a week. So embarrassing.