Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. contemplative, (sullenly) meditative, feeling depressed or moody; thus broodily adv.

[1683		W. Kennett (trans.) Erasmus Witt against Wisdom (1509) n.p.: Away, you sullen, sheepish souls, / Whose broody thoughts sit always hatching Rules!].
[1851		Gloss. Provincial Words Dorset 3: Broody, sullen; cross].
1896		G. Chanter Witch of Withyford iii 31: The Squire was so broody since his trouble and took no interest in naught.
1900		H. Lawson Over the Sliprails 52: He [...] watched my brush for a while, as if he was thinking, in a broody sort of way, of […] going in for house-painting.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 37: Broody, lethargic. Sleepy. Slack. A frequent expression on the drill-ground by drill-sergeants to liven men up, e.g., ‘You there, don’t get broody, get a move on.’.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 69: ‘I’m a flop, aren’t I?’ ‘No,’ Roy said broodily.
1959		A. Sillitoe ‘On Saturday Afternoon’ Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 102: I once saw him broodier than I’d ever seen him.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 45: She even taints me relationship with Banon, makin me ill at ease an broody when am with her.

2. of a woman, feeling a maternal desire to have a baby.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 139/1: C.20.