noun

• Sitting on eggs for the purpose of hatching young; a brooding on, or keeping warm, to develop the life within, by any process.
• (pathology) The development of a disease from its causes, or the period of such development.
• (chemistry) A period of little reaction which is followed by more rapid reaction.
• (psychology) One of the four proposed stages of creativity (preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification): the unconscious recombination of thought elements that were stimulated through conscious work at one point in time, resulting in novel ideas at a later point.
• Sleeping in a temple or other holy place in order to have oracular dreams or to receive healing.