to incubate

Examples

• All

• Hoatzins lay two or three eggs and incubate them for thirty-two days.

  Academic text (1992)

• The male stands and incubates the egg until it hatches... ...about 65 days.

  Good Luck Chuck (2007)

• The father will incubate the egg for more than eighty days.

  Academic text (1993)

• But that's the perfect temperature and humidity to incubate the egg.

• Common loon pairs build nests, incubate eggs, and rear chicks together.

  Academic text (2010)

• The eggs were incubated in an Italian machine (Victoria) having separate arrangements for setting and hatching of eggs.

  Academic text (2014)

• Nestled in the protective beach grass, a piping plover incubates four mottled tan-and-black eggs.

  Academic text (1994)

• The hen will incubate her eggs to keep them warm until they hatch.

• After laying her eggs, the bird began to incubate them in the cozy nest.

• In warm conditions, the female turtle will incubate her eggs in the sand.

Synonyms

C

to cover

vsto incubate

10 8.2

To sit on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch

is about keeping eggs warm so embryos develop and later emerge

H

to hatch

vsto incubate

5 2.6

To sit on eggs to keep them warm until they open

is focused on allowing embryo development rather than the endpoint of readiness

B

to brood

vsto incubate

1 6.0

To sit on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch

is broader, describing the same sitting action for birds and other animals

Antonyms

A

to abandon

773 3.1

Leave someone or something behind permanently and without care

Phrasal Verbs

I

to incubate ideas

6.1

To let ideas grow slowly before you act

Compounds

I

to incubate (a) culture

• Specialized

6.6

To keep bacteria or cells at a set warm temperature so they grow

How Warm

to incubate

3 5.1

to warm

488 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology