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brood - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English brood, brod, from Old English brōd (brood; foetus; breeding, hatching), from Proto-Germanic *brōduz (heat, breeding), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- (breath, mist, vapour, steam).

brood (countable and uncountable, plural broods)

  1. The young of certain animals, especially a group of young birds or fowl hatched at one time by the same mother.
  2. (uncountable) The young of any egg-laying creature, especially if produced at the same time.
  3. (countable, uncountable) The eggs and larvae of social insects such as bees, ants and some wasps, especially when gathered together in special brood chambers or combs within the colony.
  4. (countable, uncountable) The children in one family; offspring.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

      Ay, lord, she will become thy bed, I warrant, / And bring thee forth brave brood.

    • 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 243:

      Garland Green, the tenth in a brood of eleven, was born on June 24, 1942, in Dunleath, Mississippi.

  5. That which is bred or produced; breed; species.
    • 1598, George Chapman translation of Homer's Iliad, Book 2:
      [] flocks of the airy brood,
      Cranes, geese or long-neck'd swans, here, there, proud of their pinions fly []
  6. Parentage.
  7. (mining) Heavy waste in tin and copper ores.

the young of certain animals

the young of any egg-laying creature

the children in one family

brood (not comparable)

  1. (of animals) Kept or reared for breeding.
    brood ducks
    a brood mare

brood (third-person singular simple present broods, present participle brooding, simple past and past participle brooded)

  1. (transitive) To keep an egg warm to make it hatch.

    In some species of birds, both the mother and father brood the eggs.

  2. (transitive) To protect (something that is gradually maturing); to foster.

    Under the rock was a midshipman fish, brooding a mass of eggs.

  3. (intransitive) (typically with about or over) To dwell upon moodily and at length, mainly alone.

    He sat brooding about the upcoming battle, fearing the outcome.

  4. (intransitive) To be bred.

to keep an egg warm

to protect

to dwell upon moodily and at length

From Dutch brood, from Middle Dutch brôot, from Old Dutch *brōt, from Proto-Germanic *braudą.

brood (plural brode)

  1. (countable) A loaf of bread.
  2. (uncountable) bread.

From Middle Dutch brôot, from Old Dutch *brōt, from Proto-West Germanic *braud, from Proto-Germanic *braudą.

Gesneden wittebrood
Sliced white bread

brood n (plural broden, diminutive broodje n)

  1. (uncountable) bread
  2. (countable) a loaf of bread
  3. (countable, by extension) a similar bakery product or other baked dish
  4. (uncountable, metonymically) someone's livelihood
  • Note that the diminutive broodje has specific meanings which the base form lacks.

brood

  1. Alternative form of brod