Brooded

a number of young produced or hatched at one time; a family of offspring or young.
a breed, species, group, or kind:
The museum exhibited a brood of monumental sculptures.
to sit upon (eggs) to hatch, as a bird; incubate.
(of a bird) to warm, protect, or cover (young) with the wings or body.
to think or worry persistently or moodily about; ponder:
He brooded the problem.
to sit upon eggs to be hatched, as a bird.
to dwell on a subject or to meditate with morbid persistence (usually followed by over or on).
kept for breeding:
a brood hen.
brood above/over, to cover, loom, or seem to fill the atmosphere or scene:
The haunted house on the hill brooded above the village.
Contemporary Examples

Blood in the Sand: When James Jones Wrote a Grunt’s View of D-Day James Jones November 14, 2014
Samuel Johnson Pens an Erotic Love Letter Ian McIntyre December 25, 2008
A Mathematically Impossible Novel: Manil Suri Explains “The City of Devi” Manil Suri March 14, 2013

Historical Examples

William Shakespeare John Masefield
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
Damaged Goods Upton Sinclair
Bride of the Mistletoe James Lane Allen
The Story of a Bad Boy Thomas Bailey Aldrich
A Spirit in Prison Robert Hichens
The Flute of the Gods Marah Ellis Ryan

noun
a number of young animals, esp birds, produced at one hatching
all the offspring in one family: often used jokingly or contemptuously
a group of a particular kind; breed
(as modifier) kept for breeding: a brood mare
verb
(of a bird)

to sit on or hatch (eggs)
(transitive) to cover (young birds) protectively with the wings

when intr, often foll by on, over or upon. to ponder morbidly or persistently
n.
v.