Incubate
English Meaning
To sit, as on eggs for hatching; to brood; to brood upon, or keep warm, as eggs, for the purpose of hatching.
- To sit on (eggs) to provide heat, so as to promote embryonic development and the hatching of young; brood.
- To maintain (eggs, organisms, or living tissue) at optimal environmental conditions for growth and development.
- To maintain (a chemical or biochemical system) under specific conditions in order to promote a particular reaction.
- To form or consider slowly and protectively, as if hatching: incubated the idea for a while, then announced it.
- To brood eggs.
- To develop and hatch.
- To undergo incubation.