incubationn.
/ɪnkjuːˈbeɪʃən/ 1. The action of sitting on eggs in order to hatch them; the hatching of eggs by sitting on them. More widely, the protection of its eggs by an animal, or the provision of conditions that favour their development. Also, the embryonic development of an animal within an egg. artificial incubation, hatching of eggs by artificial heat.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [noun] > egg > incubation
incubation1646
incubiture1653
partion1656
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iii. vii. 120 Incubation alters not the species..as evidently appeares in the eggs of Ducks or Partridges hatched under a Hen.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo in Wks. (1721) III. 304 Her Incubations by Degrees dispence Parts, Form, Life, Motion, Nutriment and Sense, Till they full grown, their Prisons open fling.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 785/2 When the process of incubation begins [in the crayfish] the surface of the yolk is first seen to become covered with star-like or serrated spots.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. v. 107 Each cock bird will have its fair share of the labour of incubation.
1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life Introd. 50 Observed in..the incubation of the Python.
1891 W. N. Lane Poultry Farming 4 Artificial incubation is a cheaper method of hatching than the natural one.
1905 J. Wyman in D. S. Jordan Guide Study of Fishes I. xi. 170 Among the Siluroid fishes of Guiana there are several species, which, at certain seasons of the year, have their mouths and bronchial cavities filled either with eggs or young, and, as is believed, for the purpose of incubation.
1931 J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xvi. 320 The period of incubation [of ray eggs] lasts from four and a half to nearly fifteen months.
1960 T. H. Waterman Physiol. Crustacea I. xiii. 440 As in female vertebrates, the ovary of the crustaceans..secretes a hormone which prepares the mother for incubation.
1962 K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyol. x. 299 To carry egg protection to its highest degree, some fishes have evolved various types of internal incubation or gestation.
1962 K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyol. x. 299 In a Brazilian catfish..the male parent develops an enlarged lower lip to form a pouch in which labial incubation of the eggs takes place.
2. transferred and figurative. Applied esp. to the ‘brooding’ or ‘moving’ of the Divine Spirit over the face of the chaos at the Creation (Genesis i. 2).
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the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > state of being in preparation > making or becoming mature
ripingeOE
concoction1555
hatching1555
ripening1561
maturation1605
incubation1614
gestation1615
coction1683
development1724
developing1744
ageing1853
maturing1897
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. i. §6. 6 Whether that motion..and operation, were by incubation, or how else, the manner is only knowne to God.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iii. i. 247 Some assign a natural determined Cause of the first production of Mankind, namely, the due preparation of the fat and slimy Earth after a long incubation of Waters.
a1679 W. Gurnall in C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David (1882) VI. Ps. cxix. 130 He who, by his incubation upon the waters of the creation, hatched that rude mass into the beautiful form we now see.
1733 J. Tull Horse-hoing Husbandry vi. 25 Many of the Pores or Interstices close up during the Seed's Incubation, and hatching in the Ground.
1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France ii, in Wks. (1808) VIII. 258 The Dutch Republicks were hatched and cherished under the same incubation.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xiv. 235 The mind became fruitful as by the incubation of the Holy Ghost.
1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein III. 437 The Middle Ages..were the age..if not actually of the greatest painting and poetry, yet of the incubation of both.
3. Pathology. The process or phase through which the germs of disease pass between contagion or inoculation and the development of the first symptoms. period of incubation, the space of time occupied by this process, which varies greatly for different diseases, and in different circumstances.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > [noun] > stage of disease > incubation
delitescence1833
incubation1835
incubation-period1879
1835 G. Gregory Theory & Pract. Med. (ed. 4) i. vi. 81 Period of incubation..The interval which elapses between exposure to malaria and the invasion of disease is liable to some variety.
1835 G. Gregory Theory & Pract. Med. ii. v. 149 Sometimes a degree of catarrhal affection is present throughout the whole term of incubation.
1876 J. Van Duyn & E. C. Seguin tr. E. L. Wagner Man. Gen. Pathol. 137 The period of incubation of cholera lasts at least one week.
1885 Daily News 30 Oct. 3/3 The period of incubation, i.e., the time from the infliction of the bite till the disease shows itself, is stated..to vary from 12 days..to one year and upwards, the average being from 44 to 75 days.
4. Ancient Greek History. The practice of sleeping in a temple or sacred place for oracular purposes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [noun] > specific practices or customs
naked bed?1504
bundling1807
incubation1871
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [noun] > oracle of > sleeping in sacred place for oracular purposes
incubation1871
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [noun] > sleeping in sacred place
incubation1871
1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture II. 111 This place was celebrated for the worship of Æsculapius, in whose temple incubation, i.e. sleeping for oracular dreams, was practised.
1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 808.
5. The process, or an instance, of incubating anything, in a controlled or artificial environment (see incubate v. 3b).
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the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [noun] > incubation
incubation1928
preincubation1941
1928 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 3 Nov. 1338/1 The maturity-provoking hormone is definitely somewhat more stable to incubation in the presence of acid.
1938 Biochem. Jrnl. 32 450 Batches of 100 flasks of Czapek-Dox solution..were sown with..Helminthosporium leersii..and incubated in the dark at 24°. The rate of growth was slow and incubation was continued for 90 days... The mycelium was separated by filtration.
1969 Clin. Sci. XXXVII. 409 Incubation of slices in uraemic serum had no effect upon glycogenolysis or on glycogen synthesis, but utilisation of glucose was inhibited.
1969 Clin. Sci. XXXVII. 410 Slices from the same animal served for incubations both with uraemic and with control sera.
1971 Nature 19 Nov. 154/1 An 18 h incubation of a copper strip in 2·5 ml. of saline solution alone yielded a Cu2+ concentration of 4 × 10—5 M.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
incubation drive n.
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1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xvii. 155 It is likely that his birds, by being robbed so often, had on the average a lower incubation-drive than our birds.
incubation-fever n.
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1954 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles III. 133 Colonel Meiklejohn suggests that this cock may have been suffering from incubation fever and built the nest to satisfy its craving.
incubation-period n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > [noun] > stage of disease > incubation
delitescence1833
incubation1835
incubation-period1879
the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [noun] > incubation > incubation period
incubation-period1879
1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. 9 712 In this case..the incubation period was two days.
1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 539 A specific bacillus which, introduced by feeding into mice, produces..illness and death after a definite incubation period.
1926 H. M. Kyle Biol. Fishes Index 392/1 Incubation period.
1940 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 134 250 In a prolonged incubation period there was observed nearly complete hydrolysis.
1943 Biol. Abstr. 17 2253/2 Av. incubation period was 380 hrs. at about 15·5°C [for the tide-pool cottid].
1961 E. Cameron Cockroach ii. 24 The incubation period [of Periplaneta americana] is a fairly long one, and varies a good deal according to the temperature, and the relative humidity of the environment.
1969 A. Bellairs Life of Reptiles II. x. 444 The incubation period of eggs, from the time of fertilisation to that of hatching, is exceedingly variable.
1973 Nature 30 Mar. 329/2 Following a 24 h incubation period, the medium and cells which had not stuck to the well surface were decanted.
incubation-process n.
ΚΠ
1862 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia III. xii. xi. 360 The incubation-process may have uses for some of us!
C2.
incubation-patch n. an area of the ventral surface of a bird's body that swells and loses its feathers during the incubation of eggs, as a way of providing them with the necessary warmth; usually called a brood-patch.
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the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [noun] > incubation patch
incubation-patch1952
1952 J. Fisher Fulmar iv. 95 Fulmars have only a single incubation-patch, into which two eggs could probably not fit.
Derivatives
incuˈbational adj. of or connected with incubation.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [adjective] > relating to incubation
incubational1849
incubative1859
incubatory1877
1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. ii. 1209/1 The cloaca..serves as a kind of incubational..pouch.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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