brooding

Noun · Adjective
Synonyms: incubationpensivenessbroodycontemplativemeditativemusingpensiveponderingreflectiveruminative

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the bodySynonyms: incubation
  2. persistent morbid meditation on a problemSynonyms: pensiveness

Adjective (1)

  1. deeply or seriously thoughtful“Byron lives on not only in his poetry, but also in his creation of the 'Byronic hero' - the persona of a brooding melancholy young man";”Synonyms: broodycontemplativemeditativemusingpensiveponderingreflectiveruminative
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Webster's Dictionary (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]
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]

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]

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]

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