Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act of incubating.
- n. The state of being incubated.
- n. Medicine The development of an infection from the time the pathogen enters the body until signs or symptoms first appear.
- n. Medicine The maintenance of an infant, especially a premature infant, in an environment of controlled temperature, humidity, and oxygen concentration in order to provide optimal conditions for growth and development.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of sitting, as on eggs, for the purpose of hatching; brooding; hatching: often used figuratively, as of writings, schemes, etc.
- n. In pathology, the unnoticed or unknown processes or changes which occur in the interval between the exposure to an infectious disease and the development of its first symptoms.
- n. A lying in or within; specifically, the act of sleeping in a temple for the purpose of obtaining revelations by dreams, or in the hope of being visited by the god and relieved of some ailment, as in the Greek sanctuaries of Æsculapius.
- n. In pathology, the period that elapses between the introduction of the morbific principle and the outbreak of the disease.
Wiktionary
- n. Sitting on eggs for the purpose of hatching young; a brooding on, or keeping warm, to develop the life within, by any process.
- n. pathology The development of a disease from its causes, or its period of incubation. (See below.)
- n. chemistry A period of little reaction which is followed by more rapid reaction.
- n. Sleeping in a temple or other holy place in order to have oracular dreams.
GNU Webster's 1913
- 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.
- n. (Med.) The development of a disease from its causes, or its period of incubation. (See below.)
- n. A sleeping in a consecrated place for the purpose of dreaming oracular dreams.
- n. 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.
- n. The gradual development in some interior environment, until fully formed.
WordNet 3.0
- n. sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the body
- n. (pathology) the phase in the development of an infection between the time a pathogen enters the body and the time the first symptoms appear
- n. maintaining something at the most favorable temperature for its development
Etymologies
- From Latin incubationem, from incubare. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“CLEMENT: These are cases that have what we call incubation, that is, they have a respirator on them to assist breathing.”
“But rabies incubation is very long, said Zhen Fu, DVM Ph. D., professor of pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia.”
“THE RAT TRAP: In need of creative solace for various writing ventures that are still in long-term incubation, I headed alone to the Finborough Theatre in Chelsea to witness some actors putting themselves through the mill at the outer limits of the creative world.”
“VEM-like material that accumulated in incubation fluid when kidney slices were incubated anaerobically.”
“They offer, in short, incubation for ideas questionably modern.”
“In the ass and mule in almost all cases the period of incubation is short and the disease develops in an acute form.”
“For long-term incubation, oocytes were cultured in MEM with 20\% foetal calf serum in a”
“The Courier project is in "incubation" - so a long way from going on sale - but there is speculation that a mid-2010 launch is still possible.”
“The second is incubation, which is the mulling over of the information, often unconsciously.”
“Whatever it is, it's been three years in incubation.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘incubation’.
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EN - fine scholarly language
exhort, accretion, twenty-nine, atrophy, additive, brilliantly, interreligious, empiricism, pathologic, limitless, half-century, vigilant and 488 more...
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Bedaphors
So
very
sleepyhypnagogic, chronotherapy, clinomania, condorm, librocubicularist, matutolypea, soporific, supine, decubitus, pandiculation, oscitancy, slugabed and 169 more...
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The Hospital Experience
From cradle to grave, the medical "professionals" have us coming and going.
power trips, doctor's orders, manipulation, intimidation, unnecessary proce..., costly ordeals, preventable compl..., fatal errors, infectious, sanitation, ambulance chasers, incubation and 15 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for incubation.
bilby Muslims are encouraged to 'spend time' in mosques during the month of Ramadan, which can involve sleeping there. This practice is known as ihtikaaf. May 14, 2008
whichbe A religious practice of sleeping in a sacred area with the intention of experiencing a divinely inspired dream or cure. Incubation was practised by members of the cult of Asclepius. Votive offerings found at his ritual centres at Epidaurus, Pergamum, and Rome detail the perceived effectiveness of the method. Incubation was adopted by certain Christian sects and is still used in a few Greek monasteries. May 13, 2008