BROOD (3)

Brood (brōch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Brooded; p. pr. & vb. n. Brooding.] 1. 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. 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.