Brood \Brood\, a.

1. Sitting or inclined to sit on eggs.

2. Kept for breeding from; as, a brood mare; brood stock; having young; as, a brood sow.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Brood \Brood\ (br[=o]ch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Brooded; p. pr. & vb. n. Brooding.]

1. To sit on and cover eggs, as a fowl, for the purpose of warming them and hatching the young; or to sit over and cover young, as a hen her chickens, in order to warm and protect them; hence, to sit quietly, as if brooding.

Birds of calm sir brooding on the charmed wave. --Milton.

2. To have the mind dwell continuously or moodily on a subject; to think long and anxiously; to be in a state of gloomy, serious thought; -- usually followed by over or on; as, to brood over misfortunes.

Brooding on unprofitable gold. --Dryden.

Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit. --Hawthorne.

When with downcast eyes we muse and brood. --Tennyson.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Brood \Brood\ (br[=oo]d), n. [OE. brod, AS. br[=o]d; akin to D. broed, OHG. bruot, G. brut, and also to G. br["u]he broth, MHG. br["u]eje, and perh. to E. brawn, breath. Cf. Breed, v. t.]

1. The young birds hatched at one time; a hatch; as, a brood of chickens.

As a hen doth gather her brood under her wings. --Luke xiii. 34.

A hen followed by a brood of ducks. --Spectator.

2. The young from the same dam, whether produced at the same time or not; young children of the same mother, especially if nearly of the same age; offspring; progeny; as, a woman with a brood of children.

The lion roars and gluts his tawny brood. --Wordsworth.

3. That which is bred or produced; breed; species.

Flocks of the airy brood, (Cranes, geese or long-necked swans). --Chapman.

4. (Mining) Heavy waste in tin and copper ores.

To sit on brood, to ponder. [Poetic] --Shak.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Brood \Brood\ (br[=oo]d), v. t.

1. To sit over, cover, and cherish; as, a hen broods her chickens.

2. To cherish with care. [R.]

3. To think anxiously or moodily upon.

You'll sit and brood your sorrows on a throne. --Dryden.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)