Brood, n.
Etymology: [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)
1 more senses
Heavy waste in tin and copper ores. To sit on brood, to ponder. [Poetic] Shak.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for brood; he lists it under flock.
Where he writes about it:
The individuals in a brood or litter are related to each other; those in the other groups may not be. — from flock
Brood is used chiefly of fowls and birds, litter of certain quadrupeds which bring forth many young at a birth; we speak of a brood of chickens, a litter of puppies; brood is sometimes applied to a family of young children. — from flock