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

That chafed—not so much the business of being so junior a member of the sibling brood, but, as he reached his teens, at the privileges age afforded his siblings and the ones it denied him.

From Time

Last week, you analyzed two broods of cicadas, with periods of A and B years, that had just emerged in the same season.

From FiveThirtyEight

Both 13 and 17 are prime numbers — and relatively prime with one another — which means these broods are rarely in phase with other predators or each other.

From FiveThirtyEight

Her quirky, bubbly personality is a sharp contrast from the otherwise dark, brooding atmosphere of “Mass Effect 2.”

From Washington Post

Kritsky hopes that by the time the next major cicada explosion emerges in 2024—a brood in northern Illinois that emerges on a 13-year cycle—he’ll have figured out a way to use artificial intelligence to do the painstaking work.

From MIT Technology Review

The new trail is slated for February, which happens to be around the time the eagles will likely be starting another brood.

From The Daily Beast

After all, the small congregation— about 40 strong —is comprised almost entirely of the Phelps brood.

From The Daily Beast

The key is how much we can brood, and what is meant by brooding—is it to daydream, or is it to agonize over every detail?

From The Daily Beast

An uncle and his family resided in another house and his aunt and her brood in a third.

From The Daily Beast

Why he went after the Anderson brood is especially puzzling.

From The Daily Beast

He returned in ten minutes or so, having sat for that period behind a neighbouring tree to brood over his circumstances.

From Project Gutenberg

What can be prettier than a brood of chickens with a good motherly hen, like the one in this picture!

From Project Gutenberg

What will you be, some day, when Posey lays eggs, and brings out a brood of little chickens?

From Project Gutenberg

A portly woman, whom Isabel knew to be the mother of a brood, was far more anxious to please.

From Project Gutenberg

Finally only one duckling remained in the middle of the river, probably at once the strongest and most foolish of the brood.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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