brood

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See also: Brood and Brööd

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English brood, brod, from Old English brōd (“brood; foetus; breeding, hatching”), from Proto-Germanic *brōduz (“heat, breeding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- (“breath, mist, vapour, steam”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: bro͞od, IPA(key): /bɹuːd/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Homophones: brewed
  • Rhymes: -uːd

Noun[edit]

brood (countable and uncountable, plural broods)

  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. 34
      As 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. (countable, uncountable) 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. (countable, uncountable) The children in one family; offspring.
  5. That which is bred or produced; breed; species.
    • 1598, George Chapman translation of Homer's Iliad, Book 2:
      […] flocks of the airy brood,
      Cranes, geese or long-neck'd swans, here, there, proud of their pinions fly […]
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 19:
      Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
      And make the earth devour her own sweet brood […]
  6. Parentage.
  7. (mining) Heavy waste in tin and copper ores.

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

Adjective[edit]

brood (not comparable)

  1. Kept or reared for breeding, said of animals.
    brood ducks
    a brood mare

Verb[edit]

brood (third-person singular simple present broods, present participle brooding, simple past and past participle brooded)

  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 (something that is gradually maturing); to foster.
    Under the rock was a midshipman fish, brooding a mass of eggs.
  3. (intransitive) (typically with about or over) To dwell upon moodily and at length, mainly alone.
    He sat brooding about the upcoming battle, fearing the outcome.
    • 1833, Alfred Tennyson:
      As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood
    • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 6, The Scarlet Letter:
      Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit.
    • 1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XI.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, OCLC 639975898, pages 256–257:
      But Claggart's was no vulgar form of the passion. Nor, as directed toward Billy Budd, did it partake of that streak of apprehensive jealousy that marred Saul's visage perturbedly brooding on the comely young David. Claggart's envy struck deeper.
    • 1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter IX, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 884653065; republished New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953, →ISBN, page 182:
      And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.
  4. (intransitive) To be bred.

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch brood.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

brood (plural brode)

  1. bread

Dutch[edit]

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Dutch brôot, from Old Dutch *brōd, from Proto-Germanic *braudą.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Gesneden wittebrood
Sliced white bread

brood n (plural broden, diminutive broodje n)

  1. bread
  2. (by extension) Similar bakery product or other baked dish
  3. (metonymically) livelihood, especially in expressions like dagelijks brood

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • Afrikaans: brood

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English brād.

Adjective[edit]

brood

  1. broad

Descendants[edit]

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