brood
verb /bruːd/
/bruːd/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they brood | /bruːd/ /bruːd/ |
| he / she / it broods | /bruːdz/ /bruːdz/ |
| past simple brooded | /ˈbruːdɪd/ /ˈbruːdɪd/ |
| past participle brooded | /ˈbruːdɪd/ /ˈbruːdɪd/ |
| -ing form brooding | /ˈbruːdɪŋ/ /ˈbruːdɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] brood (over/on/about something) to think a lot about something that makes you annoyed, anxious or upset
- You're not still brooding over what he said, are you?
Extra ExamplesTopics Feelingsc2- He sits in his armchair brooding on how life has let him down.
- Try not to brood about last night.
- [intransitive, transitive] brood (something) if a bird broods, or broods its eggs, it sits on the eggs in order to hatch them (= make the young come out of them)
Word OriginOld English brōd, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch broed and German Brut, also to breed. Sense (1) of the verb was originally used with an object, i.e. ‘to nurse (feelings) in the mind’ (late 16th cent.), a figurative use of the idea of a hen nursing chicks under her wings.