brood

/brud/

/brud/

Other forms: brooding; brooded; broods

A brood is a group of young born at the same time — like a brood of chicks — but your parents might use the word for you and your siblings: "We're taking the whole brood to the movies tonight."

Brood is also what a chicken does when she sits on her eggs to hatch them. You can also brood, when you worry and sulk and dwell on something obsessively — maybe as tedious as sitting on eggs, but no chicks when you're done. Things like clouds or silence can also brood, hanging over something ominously, as a storm that broods over the sea, sending fishermen scurrying for safety.

Definitions of brood

1. verb

   hang over, as of something threatening, dark, or menacing
   “The terrible vision brooded over her all day long”

   synonyms: bulk large, hover, loom

   types:

   dominate, eclipse, overshadow

   be greater in significance than

   type of:

   hang

   be menacing, burdensome, or oppressive
2. verb

   think moodily or anxiously about something
   synonyms: dwell

   type of:

   care, worry

   be concerned with
3. verb

   be in a huff; be silent or sullen
   synonyms: grizzle, stew

   type of:

   pout, sulk

   be in a huff and display one's displeasure
4. verb

   be in a huff and display one's displeasure
   synonyms: pout, sulk

   types:

   grizzle, stew

   be in a huff; be silent or sullen
5. noun

   the young of an animal cared for at one time
   types:

   clutch

   a number of birds hatched at the same time

   type of:

   animal group

   a group of animals
6. verb

   sit on (eggs)
   “Birds brood”

   synonyms: cover, hatch, incubate

   hatch

   emerge from the eggs

   type of:

   multiply, procreate, reproduce

   have offspring or produce more individuals of a given animal or plant