brood

 
Pronunciation: /bruːd/

noun

  • 1a family of birds or other young animals produced at one hatching or birth: a brood of chicks
  • informal a large family of children: she was brought up as part of a brood of eight
  • 2 [mass noun] bee or wasp larvae.

verb

  • 1 [no object] think deeply about something that makes one unhappy, angry, or worried: she had brooded over the subject a thousand times
  • 2 [with object] (of a bird) sit on (eggs) to hatch them: the male pheasant-tailed jacana takes over once the eggs are laid and broods them
  • (of a fish, frog, or invertebrate) hold (developing eggs) within the body.

adjective

[attributive]
  • (of an animal) kept to be used for breeding: a brood mare

Origin:

Old English brōd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch broed and German Brut, also to breed. The verb was originally used with an object, i.e. 'to nurse (feelings) in the mind' (late 16th century), a figurative use of the idea of a hen nursing chicks under her wings