Brood (brōch), 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, 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 (br?d), n. [OE. brod, AS.
brōd; akin to D. broed, OHG. bruot, G.
brut, and also to G. brühe broth, MHG.
brüeje, 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 (br?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.