• enPR: bro͞od, IPA: /bɹuːd/

brood

1. The young of certain animals, especially a group of young birds or fowl hatched at one time by the same mother.
   • Bible, Luke xiii. 34

     As a hen doth gather her brood under her wings.

2. (uncountable) The young of any egg-laying creature, especially if produced at the same time.
3. (countable, uncountable) The eggs and larvae of social insects such as bees, ants and some wasps, especially when gathered together in special brood chambers or combs within the colony.
4. (countable, uncountable) The children in one family; offspring.
   • circa 1610-11 William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii:

     Ay, lord, she will become thy bed, I warrant, / And bring thee forth brave brood.

5. That which is bred or produced; breed; species.
   • 1598, George Chapman translation of Homer's Iliad, Book 2:

     […] flocks of the airy brood,

     Cranes, geese or long-neck'd swans, here, there, proud of their pinions fly […]

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 19:

     Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,

     And make the earth devour her own sweet brood […]

6. Parentage.
7. (mining) Heavy waste in tin and copper ores.

• Italian: nidiata, prole
• Portuguese: ninhada
• Russian: вы́водок
• Spanish: cría

• Italian: schiusa
• Portuguese: ninhada
• Russian: вы́водок
• Spanish: polluelo

• Italian: prole
• Portuguese: prole
• Russian: пото́мство
• Spanish: prole

brood (not comparable)

1. Kept or reared for breeding, said of animals.

   brood ducks

   a brood mare

brood (broods, present participle brooding; past and past participle brooded)

1. (transitive) To keep an egg warm to make it hatch.

   In some species of birds, both the mother and father brood the eggs.

2. (transitive) To protect (something that is gradually maturing); to foster.

   Under the rock was a midshipman fish, brooding a mass of eggs.

3. (intransitive) (typically with about or over) To dwell upon moodily and at length, mainly alone.

   He sat brooding about the upcoming battle, fearing the outcome.

   • 1833, Alfred Tennyson:

     quote en

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 6, The Scarlet Letter:

     quote en

   • 1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XI.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, OCLC 639975898 ↗, pages 256–257 ↗:

     But Claggart's was no vulgar form of the passion. Nor, as directed toward Billy Budd, did it partake of that streak of apprehensive jealousy that marred Saul's visage perturbedly brooding on the comely young David. Claggart's envy struck deeper.

   • 1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter IX, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 884653065 ↗; republished New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953, →ISBN, page 182 ↗:

     And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.

4. (intransitive) To be bred.

• French: couver
• German: brüten
• Italian: covare
• Portuguese: chocar
• Russian: выси́живать
• Spanish: empollar

• French: couver, protéger
• Italian: allevare, tirare su
• Spanish: proteger

• French: se morfondre, broyer du noir
• German: brüten, grübeln
• Italian: covare, rimuginare, arrovellarsi
• Portuguese: ruminar, cismar