incubate
English
Etymology
From Latin incubātus, past participle ofincubāre (“to hatch”), from Latinin- (“on”) and cubāre (“to lie”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɪŋkjʊbeɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Verb
incubate (third-person singular simple present incubates, present participle incubating, simple past and past participle incubated)
- (transitive) To brood, raise, or maintain eggs, organisms, or living tissue through the provision of ideal environmental conditions.
- 1907, “Nesting Habits of the Passenger Pigeon”, in W. B. Mershon, editor, The Passenger Pigeon:
- 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.
- 1975, Catherine Marshall, Adventures in Prayer, New York: Ballantine Books, page 46:
- Part of our problem in praying for our children, he suggested, is the time lage, the necessary slow maturation of our prayers. But that's the way of God's rhythm in nature. For instance, the hen must patiently sit on her eggs to incubate them before the baby chicks hatch.
- 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian […] , OCLC 234287599:
- The mother dead these fourteen years did incubate in her own bosom the creature who would carry her off.
- 2004, A. J. Jacobs, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, New York: Simon & Schuster, page 50:
- The female cichlid fish are called "mouth breeders," which means they incubate eggs in their mouth.
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- (transitive, figuratively) To incubate metaphorically; to ponder an idea slowly and deliberately as if in preparation for hatching it.
- 1908 September – 1909 September, Jack London, chapter XXIII, in Martin Eden, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published September 1909, OCLC 4052119:
- 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.
- 1992, Sheila Davis, The Songwriters Idea Book: 40 Strategies to Excite Your Imagination, Help You Design Distinctive Songs, and Keep Your Creative Flow, Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, page 96:
- When you've got your theme–let the concept incubate. Walk around with it, sleep on it.
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Derived terms
- incubatee
- incubation
- incubative
- incubator
Translations
brood, raise, or maintain eggs, organisms, or living tissue
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incubate metaphorically
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Anagrams
- cubanite
Italian
Verb
incubate
- inflection of incubare:
- second-person plural present indicative
- second-person plural imperative
Participle
incubate f pl
- feminine plural of incubato
Anagrams
- ubicante
Latin
Verb
incubāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of incubō