brood definition | Dictionary.com

brood

[brood]

–noun

1.	a number of young produced or hatched at one time; a family of offspring or young.

2.	a breed, species, group, or kind: The museum exhibited a brood of monumental sculptures.

–verb (used with object)

3.	to sit upon (eggs) to hatch, as a bird; incubate.

4.	(of a bird) to warm, protect, or cover (young) with the wings or body.

5.	to think or worry persistently or moodily about; ponder: He brooded the problem.

–verb (used without object)

6.	to sit upon eggs to be hatched, as a bird.

7.	to dwell on a subject or to meditate with morbid persistence (usually fol. by over or on).

–adjective

8.	kept for breeding: a brood hen.

—Verb phrase

9.	brood above or over, to cover, loom, or seem to fill the atmosphere or scene: The haunted house on the hill brooded above the village.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE brōd; c. D broed, G Brut. See breed

Related forms:

broodless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. Brood, litter refer to young creatures. Brood is esp. applied to the young of fowls and birds hatched from eggs at one time and raised under their mother's care: a brood of young turkeys. Litter is applied to a group of young animals brought forth at a birth: a litter of kittens or pups. 2. line, stock, strain.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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brood (brōōd)

The young of certain animals, especially a group of young birds or fowl hatched at one time and cared for by the same mother. See Synonyms at flock¹.
The children in one family.

v. brood·ed, brood·ing, broods

v. tr.

To sit on or hatch (eggs).
To protect (young) by or as if by covering with the wings.

v. intr.

To sit on or hatch eggs.
To hover envelopingly; loom.
1. To be deep in thought; meditate.
2. To focus the attention on a subject persistently and moodily; worry: brooded over the insult for several days.
3. To be depressed.

adj. Kept for breeding: a brood hen.

[Middle English, from Old English brōd; see bhreu- in Indo-European roots.]
brood'ing·ly adv.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to turn over in the mind moodily and at length: brooding about his decline in popularity; dwelled on her defeat; fretted over the loss of his job; moping about his illness; stewing over her upcoming trial; worrying about the unpaid bills. See Also Synonyms at flock¹.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Brood

Brood\ (br[=oo]d), n. [OE. brod, AS. br[=o]d; akin to D. broed, OHG. bruot, G. brut, and also to G. br["u]he broth, MHG. br["u]eje, and perh. to E. brawn, breath. Cf. Breed, v. t.]

1. The young birds hatched at one time; a hatch; as, a brood of chickens.

As a hen doth gather her brood under her wings. --Luke xiii. 34.

A hen followed by a brood of ducks. --Spectator.

2. The young from the same dam, whether produced at the same time or not; young children of the same mother, especially if nearly of the same age; offspring; progeny; as, a woman with a brood of children.

The lion roars and gluts his tawny brood. --Wordsworth.

3. That which is bred or produced; breed; species.

Flocks of the airy brood, (Cranes, geese or long-necked swans). --Chapman.

4. (Mining) Heavy waste in tin and copper ores.

To sit on brood, to ponder. [Poetic] --Shak.

Brood

Brood\, a. 1. Sitting or inclined to sit on eggs.

2. Kept for breeding from; as, a brood mare; brood stock; having young; as, a brood sow.

Brood

Brood\ (br[=o]ch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Brooded; p. pr. & vb. n. Brooding.]

1. To sit on and cover eggs, as a fowl, for the purpose of warming them and hatching the young; or to sit over and cover young, as a hen her chickens, in order to warm and protect them; hence, to sit quietly, as if brooding.

Birds of calm sir brooding on the charmed wave. --Milton.

2. To have the mind dwell continuously or moodily on a subject; to think long and anxiously; to be in a state of gloomy, serious thought; -- usually followed by over or on; as, to brood over misfortunes.

Brooding on unprofitable gold. --Dryden.

Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit. --Hawthorne.

When with downcast eyes we muse and brood. --Tennyson.

Brood

Brood\ (br[=oo]d), v. t. 1. To sit over, cover, and cherish; as, a hen broods her chickens.

2. To cherish with care. [R.]

3. To think anxiously or moodily upon.

You'll sit and brood your sorrows on a throne. --Dryden.

Language Translation for : brood

Spanish: empollar,

German: brüten,

Japanese: 卵を抱く

More Translations »

brood

O.E. brod, from P.Gmc. *brod (cf. M.Du. broet, O.H.G. bruot), lit. "that which is hatched by heat," from *bro- "to warm, heat," from PIE *bhre- "burn, heat, incubate," from base *bhreue- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn" (see brew). The verbal figurative meaning ("to incubate in the mind") is first recorded 1571, from notion of "nursing" one's anger, resentment, etc.

Main Entry: ¹brood
Pronunciation: 'brüd
Function: noun
: the young of an animal or a family of young; especially : the young(as of a bird or insect) hatched or cared for at one time

Main Entry: ²brood
Function: transitive verb
1 a : to sit on or incubate (eggs) b : to produce by or as if by incubation
2 : to think anxiously or gloomily about brood intransitive senses
1 of a bird : to brood eggs or young
2 a : to dwell gloomilyon a subject b : to be in a state of depression

brood (br&oomacr;d)
n.
See litter.

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