Brood

Pronunciation

• enPR: broÍžod, IPA: /bruːd/
• Homophones: brewed
• Rhymes: -uːd

Origin

From Middle English brood, brod, from Old English brōd ("brood; foetus; breeding, hatching"), from Proto-Germanic *brōduz ("heat, breeding"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrē- ("breath, mist, vapour, steam"). Cognate with Scots brude, brod ("brood, child, offspring"), Dutch broed ("spawn"), German Brut ("breeding, progeny, incubation, brood").

Full definition of brood

Noun

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. 34As 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. 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. The children in one family.
5. That which is bred or produced; breed; species.
• ChapmanFlocks of the airy brood,
  (Cranes, geese or long-necked swans).
6. (mining) Heavy waste in tin and copper ores.

Verb

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.Under the rock was a midshipman fish, brooding a mass of eggs.
3. (intransitive) To dwell upon moodily and at length.He sat brooding about the upcoming battle, fearing the outcome.
• Nathaniel HawthorneBrooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit.
• Tennysonwhen with downcast eyes we muse and brood

Anagrams

• dobro, Dobro