[f. BROOD v. + -ING2.]
1. That cherishes (brood), hatches or incubates.
1674. [see BROODED ppl. a.1].
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol. (1817), 149. The question, why … the brooding hen should look for pleasure from her chickens.
1843. Hood, Song of Shirt, viii. Underneath the eaves The brooding swallows cling.
fig. 1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 235. On the watrie calme His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspred.
2. fig. That hovers closely around or overhangs (as a bird over her brood).
1646. Crashaw, Steps to Temp., 34. Darkness hovers With a sable wing, that covers Brooding horror.
a. 1725. Pope, Odyss., XIX. 602. When nature’s hush’d beneath her brooding shade.
1823. Chalmers, Serm., I. 346. A suppressed, but brooding storm.
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke, xxxv. (1879), 369. Lost in a brooding cloud of fog.
3. That dwells moodily upon a subject of thought.
1818. Mrs. Shelley, Frankenst., vi. (1865), 89. Come, Victor, not with brooding thoughts of vengeance.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, II. 42. My father’s was a sombre, brooding brain.
