incubation

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: in=cu=ba=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

incubation, n. [L. incubatio: cf. F. incubation.].

•  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.  Ray.  [1913 Webster]
•  The development of a disease from its causes, or its period of incubation. (See below.)  [1913 Webster]
•  A sleeping in a consecrated place for the purpose of dreaming oracular dreams.  Tylor.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [PJC]
•  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.  [PJC]

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.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

incubation, n.
1 a the act of incubating. b brooding.
2 Med. a a phase through which the germs causing a disease pass before the development of the first symptoms. b the period of this.

Derivative

incubational adj. incubative adj. incubatory adj.

Etymology

L incubatio (as INCUBATE)

ROGET THESAURUS

incubation

Preparation

N preparation, providing, provision, providence, anticipation, precaution, preconcertation, predisposition, forecast, rehearsal, note of preparation, arrangement, clearance, adjustment, tuning, equipment, outfit, accouterment, armament, array, ripening, maturation, evolution, elaboration, concoction, digestion, gestation, batching, incubation, sitting, groundwork, first stone, cradle, stepping-stone, foundation, scaffold, scaffolding, echafaudage, training, inurement, novitiate, cooking, cookery, brewing, culinary art, tilling, plowing sowing, semination, cultivation, preparedness, readiness, ripeness, mellowness, maturity, un impromptu fait a loisir, preparer, trainer, pioneer, trailblazer, avant-courrier, avant-coureur, voortrekker, sappers and miners, pavior, navvy, packer, stevedore, warming pan, preparing, in preparation, in course of preparation, in agitation, in embryo, in hand, in train, afoot, afloat, on foot, on the stocks, on the anvil, under consideration, brewing, batching, forthcoming, brooding, in store for, in reserve, precautionary, provident, preparative, preparatory, provisional, inchoate, under revision, preliminary, prepared, in readiness, ready, ready to one's band, ready made, ready cut and dried: made to one's hand, handy, on the table, in gear, in working order, in working gear, snug, in practice, ripe, mature, mellow, pukka, practiced, labored, elaborate, highly-wrought, smelling of the lamp, worked up, in full feather, in best bib and tucker, in harness, at harness, in the saddle, in arms, in battle array, in war paint, up in arms, armed at all points, armed to the teeth, armed cap a pie, sword in hand, booted and spurred, in utrumque paratus, semper paratus, on the alert, at one's post, in preparation, in anticipation of, against, for, abroach, a bove majori discit arare minor, looking before and after, si vis pacem para bellum.