BROODING
brooding, broody, contemplative, meditative, musing, pensive, pondering, reflective, ruminative
(adjective) 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”
pensiveness, brooding
(noun) persistent morbid meditation on a problem
brooding, incubation
(noun) sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the body
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Adjective
brooding (comparative more brooding, superlative most brooding)
(of a bird) Broody; incubating eggs by sitting on them.
Deeply or seriously thoughtful.
Verb
brooding
present participle of brood
Noun
brooding (plural broodings)
A spell of brooding; the time when someone broods.
Source: Wiktionary
BROOD
Brood, n. Etym: [OE. brod, AS. brod; akin to D. broed, OHG. bruot, G.
brut, and also to G. brühe broth, MHG. brüeje, and perh. to E. brawn,
breath. Cf. Breed, v. t.]
1. The young birds hatched at one time; a hatch; as, a brood of
chicken.
As a hen doth gather her brood under her wings. Luke xiii. 34.
A hen followed by a brood of ducks. Spectator.
2. The young from the same dam, whether produced at the same time or
not; young children of the same mother, especially if nearly of the
same age; offspring; progeny; as, a woman with a brood of children.
The lion roars and gluts his tawny brood. Wordsworth.
3. That which is bred or produced; breed; species.
Flocks of the airy brood, (Cranes, geese or long-necked swans).
Chapman.
4. (Mining)
Definition: Heavy waste in tin and copper ores. To sit on brood, to ponder.
[Poetic] Shak.
Brood, a.
1. Sitting or inclined to sit on eggs.
2. Kept for breeding from; as, a brood mare; brood stock; having
young; as, a brood sow.
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.
Brood, v. t.
1. To sit over, cover, and cherish; as, a hen broods her chickens.
2. To cherish with care. [R.]
3. To think anxiously or moodily upon.
You'll sit and brood your sorrows on a throne. Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition