to brood

Examples

• All

• If a predator finds the nest, the young hoatzins can leave it for good at the tender age of three days and be brooded by their parents in nearby vegetation.

  Academic text (1992)

• The big job for the male is feeding the female as she broods the clutch of two to three eggs.

  Blog text (18)

• On the farms, the hens brooded, but no chicks hatched.

  Fiction book (2001)

• Four brooding hens and a rooster pecked around under the young mulberry tree.

  Fiction book (1994)

• The cranes have built brooding nests around the entire circumference of the lake, and have hatched chicks there.

  Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994)

• The penguins took turns brooding their eggs on the icy shore.

• In the nest, the duck was brooding over her clutch, ensuring they stayed cozy.

Synonyms

C

to cover

vsto brood

10 8.2

To sit on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch

is used only for birds and not for other animals

H

to hatch

vsto brood

5 2.6

To sit on eggs to keep them warm until they open

focuses on keeping eggs warm until they open

I

to incubate

vsto brood

3 5.1

Sit on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch

is specific to birds rather than to animals generally

Phrasal Verbs

B

to brood over

3 6.7

Think about something in a worried way for a long time

Compounds

B

brood bitch

• NSFW

9.9

A female dog kept to have and raise puppies

B

brood hen

• Jargon

5.3

A hen that sits on eggs until they hatch

B

brood sow

• Jargon

8.9

A female pig kept to have piglets

How Attentive

to hatch

5 2.6

to brood

1 6.0

to sit

∞ 1.0

visit

∞ 1.0

to abandon

773 3.1

Surface Forms

Etymology