golden egg
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.25 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see golden, egg.
Example Sentences
- "Here’s golden eggs in plenty, why not the Golden Age? — The time the world is waiting, the day-dream of the sage; […] The golden eggs of Eight-Seven, after four years’ incubation, Should hatch a brood to scratch the good from out the whole creation,"
- "How certain Stockbrokers, not content with the golden eggs laid for them by a complaisant Goose, attempt to increase the output."
- "The more consistently you bring the same “golden egg” set of factors to a selling effort (integrity, professionalism, and reliability), the more probable a golden-egg outcome remains. On the other hand, with every new pose and posture you add to your bag of selling tricks, a golden-egg outcome becomes less and less probable, or more and more haphazard."
- "With sales about to shoot into the stratosphere and a new office in the works, sleep is relegated to a poor third place. By day, Burgener is setting up the new office and fielding media requests, by night, he sits down to start the real work of programming for his golden egg, 20Q. Burgener’s invention, 20Q, is poised to become the next toy megahit."
Etymology
Allusion to “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs”, one of Aesop’s Fables. Attested from the 18th century. Compare golden goose, kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.