brood

Etymology

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”).

noun

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

adj

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

verb

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.
   As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood 1833, Alfred Tennyson, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
4. (intransitive) To be bred.