incubate
part of speech
verb (incubate, incubates, incubated, incubating)
meaning for a pupil
1) To keep eggs warm so they will hatch, as a bird does by sitting on them or as a machine does. tree →
2) To keep something such as germs, or a sick premature baby, at the right warm temperature so it can grow or be looked after. tree →
3) (medicine) When an illness incubates, it is growing in the body before you feel sick. tree →
4) (formal) To develop an idea or a new company slowly before it is ready. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons classes sometimes incubate chicken or duck eggs and watch them hatch in about three weeks. In health topics, an incubation period is the time between catching a germ and feeling ill. In hospitals, tiny babies may go in an incubator. Phrases: incubate eggs, incubation period.
examples
- The hen incubates her eggs for about 21 days. tree →
- Our class incubated duck eggs and four ducklings hatched. tree →
- Scientists incubate bacteria in warm dishes to study them. tree →
- The flu virus incubates for a day or two before you feel ill. tree →
- Penguin dads incubate the egg on their feet. tree →
- She incubated her idea for a book for years before writing it. tree →
note
Noun: incubation; the machine is an incubator. Regular verb: incubated. The eggs must be turned and kept at the right temperature, or they will not hatch.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «incubate» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.