brood
(brōōd)
[Middle English, from Old English brōd.]
noun
- 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.
verb: brood·ed, brood·ing, broods.
transitive verb
- To sit on or hatch (eggs).
- To protect (young) by or as if by covering with the wings.
intransitive verb
- To sit on or hatch eggs.
- To hover envelopingly; loom.
- To be deep in thought; meditate.
- To focus the attention on a subject persistently and moodily; worry: brooded over the insult for several days.
- To be depressed.
adjective
- Kept for breeding: a brood hen.
derivatives
- brood́ing·ly
- adverb
synonyms:
brood, dwell, fret1mope, stew, worry 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: flock1
