From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishincubatein‧cu‧bate /ˈɪŋkjəbeɪt/ verb [intransitive, transitive] 1 HBBif a bird incubates its eggs, or if the eggs incubate, they are kept warm until they hatch (=the birds inside are born)2 medicalHBMMI if a disease incubates, or if you incubate it, it develops in your body until you show physical signs of it —incubation /ˌɪŋkjəˈbeɪʃən/ noun [uncountable] Hepatitis has a long incubation period.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
incubate• What is important is that I added some additional enzyme to the incubate.• They took their generous severance packages to incubate an entirely different lifestyle.• There it is incubated, and there the young sits until it is large enough to fly away.• The second strand reaction was incubated at 12°C for 30 minutes, 22°C for 30 minutes and 70°C for 10 minutes.• The reaction mixture was incubated at 37°C.• The mixtures were incubated for 30 minutes at 25°C and centrifuged for 10 minutes.• Taken in mid-morning, it coated the teeth and then incubated until lunchtime; the lactose fermented into lactic acid.• When these cells were incubated with serum from diabetic patients prostacyclin production was inhibited.Origin incubate (1600-1700) Latin past participle of incubare “to lie on”, from cubare “to lie” 