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.

   Synonyms: strain, stock, line

verb (used with object)

1. to sit upon (eggs) to hatch, as a bird; incubate.
2. (of a bird) to warm, protect, or cover (young) with the wings or body.
3. to think or worry persistently or moodily about; ponder:

   He brooded the problem.

verb (used without object)

1. to sit upon eggs to be hatched, as a bird.
2. to dwell on a subject or to meditate with morbid persistence (usually followed by over or on ).

adjective

1. kept for breeding:

   a brood hen.

verb phrase

1. to cover, loom, or seem to fill the atmosphere or scene:

   The haunted house on the hill brooded above the village.

brood

/ bruːd /

noun

1. a number of young animals, esp birds, produced at one hatching
2. all the offspring in one family: often used jokingly or contemptuously
3. a group of a particular kind; breed
4. as modifier kept for breeding

   a brood mare

verb

1. of a bird
   1. to sit on or hatch (eggs)
   2. tr to cover (young birds) protectively with the wings
2. whenintr, often foll by on, over or upon to ponder morbidly or persistently

Derived Forms

• ˈbrooding, nounadjective
• ˈbroodingly, adverb

Other Words From

• broodless adjective
• un·brooded adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of brood¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English brōd; cognate with Dutch broed, German Brut; breed

Word History and Origins

Origin of brood¹

Old English brōd ; related to Middle High German bruot , Dutch broed ; see breed

Synonym Study

Brood, litter refer to young creatures. Brood is especially 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.

Example Sentences

Even at its most brooding, “Gemini” is enlivened by amusing wordplay and Heynderickx’s wry delivery.

From New York Times

He brooded over the dwindling supplies of clean water and that too many people were competing for too little of it.

From Salon

David Rooney was less favourable about Mescal's performance and called it "a tad flat at times" with his emotional range "sticking mostly to the same notes of brooding intensity and simmering rage".

From BBC

Granted, “Out of Time’s” earworm “Shiny Happy People” is gratingly banal, but the album also features spoken-word passages, brooding bass lines and ghostly steel-guitar drone.

From Los Angeles Times

One popular conspiracy theory held that the houses of respectable Protestant families were being raffled off in Catholic churches, to be invaded by unwashed broods of Irish peasants as soon as home rule was established.

From Salon

Related Words

• daydream
• fret
• grieve
• meditate
• mope
• ruminate
• sulk