▸ verb:  (transitive) To brood, raise, or maintain eggs, organisms, or living tissue through the provision of ideal environmental conditions.
▸ verb:  (transitive, figurative) To incubate metaphorically; to ponder an idea slowly and deliberately as if in preparation for hatching it.hatch, cover, brood, incubation, incubator, gestate, inoculate, innoculate, nurture, crystallize, more...

cause to hatch,  keep egg alive,  dream hens,  stick in nest,  keep the eggs warm

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