INCUBATION • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Incubation

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/ˌɪŋkjubˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Incubation n.

A sitting on eggs for the purpose of hatching young; a brooding on, or keeping warm, (eggs) to develop the life within, by any process.

(Med.) The development of a disease from its causes, or its period of incubation. (See below.)

A sleeping in a consecrated place for the purpose of dreaming oracular dreams.

The maintenance (of a living organism, such as microorganisms or a premature baby) in appropriate conditions, such as of temperature, humidity, or atmospheric composition, for growth.

The gradual development in some interior environment, until fully formed; as, the incubation time for developing a new drug may be longer than ten years from its first discovery.

Period of incubation, or Stage of incubation (Med.), the period which elapses between exposure to the causes of an infectious disease and the attack resulting from it; the time during which an infective agent must grow in the body before producing overt symptoms of disease.

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Etymology of 'Incubation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Incubation" Quotes from Famous Books

... asked," continued Harry, "about the yield of feathers, and was told that the average yield was about fifty dollars annually to a good bird. The feathers ripen at the time of incubation and are injured by the process, so that the artificial incubator, by releasing the birds from duty on the nest, is of ...

— The Land of the Kangaroo - Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through the Great Island Continent • Thomas Wallace Knox

... He was supposed to construct his nest upon the waves, on which it was made to float like a skiff. But as the turbulence of a storm would be likely to cause its destruction, Nature had gifted him with the extraordinary power of stilling the motions of the winds and waves, during the period of incubation. Hence the serene weather that accompanies the summer solstice was supposed to be occasioned by the benign influence of this bird, and the term "halcyon days" was applied to this period. It is remarkable that the fable should add to these supernatural gifts the power of song, ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, Issue 17, March, 1859 • Various

... but deliberately proceeded to eat them. Having done this, she dropped the empty shells over the side of the nest, together with any straws that had become soiled in the process, cleaned her bill, and proceeded with her incubation. This was Nature in a nut-shell,—or rather egg-shell,—turning her mishaps to some good account. If the egg will not make a bird, it will make food; if ...

— Ways of Nature • John Burroughs

... the seal on the French privilege to survive. If there be any hope of true internationalism among the continental peoples I think that it can rely on the Frenchman, who only wants to make the most of his own without encroaching on anybody's else property and is disinterested in human incubation for the purpose of overwhelming his neighbors. True internationalism will spring from the provincialism that holds fast to its own home and does not interfere with the worship by ...

— My Second Year of the War • Frederick Palmer

... became of great importance and some of it was later adopted by Aristotle. We also meet numerous mechanical explanations of bodily structures, comparisons between anatomical conditions encountered in related animals, experiments on living creatures,[11] systematic incubation of hen's eggs for the study of their development, parallels drawn between the development of plants and of human and animal embryos, theories of generation, among which is that which was afterwards called ...

— The Legacy of Greece • Various

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