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.


 brooding
      adj : persistently or morbidly thoughtful [syn: 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: incubation]
      2: persistent morbid meditation on a problem [syn: pensiveness]