brood

v. t. 1. To sit over, cover, and cherish; as, a hen broods her chickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cherish with care. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To think anxiously or moodily upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

You'll sit and brood your sorrows on a throne. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Birds of calm sir brooding on the charmed wave. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brooding on unprofitable gold. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

When with downcast eyes we muse and brood. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Sitting or inclined to sit on eggs. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Kept for breeding from; as, a brood mare; brood stock; having young; as, a brood sow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a box designed to maintain a constant temperature by the use of a thermostat; used for chicks or premature infants.
Syn. -- incubator. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the process of sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the body; -- mostly used of birds.
Syn. -- incubation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. good at incubating eggs, especially of a fowl kept for that purpose; as, a brooding hen.
Syn. -- brood, hatching. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. worried and thinking long and intensely, especially about a particular problem.
Syn. -- broody, contemplative, meditative, musing, pensive, pondering, reflective, ruminative, gloomy, morose. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a female horse used for breeding.
Syn. -- stud mare. [ WordNet 1.5 ]