Brooding

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              Birds of calm sir brooding on the charmed wave.
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Brooding on unprofitable gold.        --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt
              like one who has evoked a spirit.     --Hawthorne.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              When with downcast eyes we muse and brood.
                                                    --Tennyson.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  brooding \brood"ing\, a.
     1. worried and thinking long and intensely, especially about
        a particular problem.
  
     Syn: broody, contemplative, meditative, musing, pensive,
          pondering, reflective, ruminative, gloomy, morose.
          [WordNet 1.5]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  brooding \brood"ing\, a.
     good at incubating eggs, especially of a fowl kept for that
     purpose; as, a brooding hen.
  
     Syn: brood, hatching.
          [WordNet 1.5]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  brooding \brooding\ n.
     the process of sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the
     warmth of the body; -- mostly used of birds.
  
     Syn: incubation.
          [WordNet 1.5]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  brooding
       adj : persistently or morbidly thoughtful [syn: {broody}, {contemplative},
              {meditative}, {musing}, {pensive}, {pondering}, {reflective},
              {ruminative}]
       n 1: sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the
            body [syn: {incubation}]
       2: persistent morbid meditation on a problem [syn: {pensiveness}]