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lay an egg

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus 0.07 sec.
lay an egg 
1. Lit. [for a hen, etc.] to deposit an egg. Old Red stopped laying eggs, so we stewed her for Sunday dinner.
2. Fig. [for someone] to do something bad or poorly; to perform poorly on stage. I guess I really laid an egg, huh? The cast laid an egg in both performances.
See also: egg, lay

lay an egg  (American informal)
to fail to make people enjoy or be interested in something Our first two sketches got big laughs, but the next two laid an egg.
See also: egg, lay


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tells of a young duck who sees his mother lay an egg and discovers the magic of egg origins.
Goodhart's new chicks, Charlene, refuses to lay an egg like her sisters Henrietta, Geraldine, and Clara.
In 1993, Elmes and his Winfrith colleague Jeremy Thomas hypothesized that the wasp incites ant fights as a distraction on two occasions: when the youngster departs from the ant nest and again when a mother enters a nest to lay an egg.
 
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