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Incubate

//ˈɪŋkjʊbeɪt// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A preparation, or material, that has been incubated.
Verb
  1. 1
    To brood, raise, or maintain eggs, organisms, or living tissue through the provision of ideal environmental conditions. transitive

    "The places where the birds are nesting are interesting spots to visit. Both parents incubate and the scene is animated as the birds fly about in all directions."

  2. 2
    sit on (eggs) wordnet
  3. 3
    To incubate metaphorically; to ponder an idea slowly and deliberately as if in preparation for hatching it. figuratively, transitive

    "It was a habit he developed, of incubating and maturing his thought upon a subject, and of then rushing into the type-writer with it."

  4. 4
    grow under conditions that promote development wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

First attested in 1641; borrowed from Latin incubātus, an alternative to incubitus, perfect passive participle of incubō (“to hatch”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + cubō (“to lie”).

Etymology 2

First attested in 1641; borrowed from Latin incubātus, an alternative to incubitus, perfect passive participle of incubō (“to hatch”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + cubō (“to lie”).

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