Brooding

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbɹuːdɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Displaying a mood of deep unhappiness or thoughtful sadness ; sitting on eggs to keep them warm for hatching
2. Expressing a serious or troubled mind often in silence ; maintaining eggs under the body to promote their development
3. Having an atmosphere filled with quiet melancholy or contemplation ; warming eggs by staying close to them until they hatch

Etymology: The adjective "brooding" traces back to an Old English noun, "brōd", which meant offspring, especially a hatch of young birds, and also the act of hatching. The sense of warmth sits at the root: the Proto-Germanic form "*brōduz" meant "heat, breeding", and it grew out of an earlier Indo-European base for breath and vapour. A brood of chicks was kept alive by the hen's body warmth, so the noun and its verb carried the idea of incubation from the start. The mental sense is the younger of the two. A bird that sits on her eggs for long stretches is, in effect, brooding over them, and that quiet, still, weighty posture was carried over to a person lost in thought. Someone who broods is absorbed and motionless, turning something over in the mind rather than acting on it, much as a hen sits motionless on a clutch.

Synonyms: moody, pensive, sullen, mournful, reflective

Antonyms: cheerful, lighthearted, joyful, happy, carefree