[syn: brooding, broody, contemplative, meditative, musing, pensive, pondering, reflective, ruminative]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
brooding
adj 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";
[syn: brooding, 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: brooding, incubation]
2: persistent morbid meditation on a problem [syn:
pensiveness, brooding]