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