brood / broōd/ • n. a family of young animals, esp. of a bird, produced at one hatching or birth: a brood of chicks. ∎  bee or wasp larvae. ∎ inf. all of the children in a family: she was brought up by a loving stepfather as part of a brood of eight. ∎  a group of things or people having a similar character: a remarkable brood of writers.• v. 1. [intr.] think deeply about something that makes one unhappy: he brooded over his need to find a wife.2. [tr.] (of a bird) sit on (eggs) to hatch them. ∎  (of a fish, frog, or invertebrate) hold (developing eggs) within the body.3. [usu. foll. by over] (of silence, a storm, etc.) hang or hover closely: a winter storm broods over the lake.• adj. (of an animal) kept to be used for breeding: a brood mare.

Brood

the young of animals or of birds, hatched or reared at the same time or from the same dam. See also aerie, breed, fry.

Examples: brood of birds, 1530; of blackgame, 1805; of smallboats; of chess players [modern pun on to brood —Lipton, 1970]; of chicken, 1611; of daughters, 1896; of ducks, 1711; of eels, 1558; of eagles; of eggs; of folly, 1632; of game; of grouse; of guilty wishes, 1863; of hawks; of heath fowl, 1805; of hens, 1486; of kittens; of lies, 1798; of oysters [in second year], 1862; of petty despots, 1867; of poisons, 1719; of presbyterians, 1706; of salmon, 1389; of serpents, 1697; of silkworms, 1760; of time, 1597.

brood progeny, offspring. OE. brōd, corr. to OHG. bruot (G. brut. f. Gmc. *brōd-, f. *brō warm, heat.
Hence brood vb. sit on eggs XV. hover over XVI; meditate intensely XVIII. broody (a broody hen) inclined to sit OE.; †prolific. OE. brōdiġ; see -Y1.

brood
1. (noun) All of the offspring that hatch from a single clutch of eggs.

2. (verb) To incubate eggs.