noun: maintaining something at the most favorable temperature for its development
noun: (pathology) the phase in the development of an infection between the time a pathogen enters the body and the time the first symptoms appear
noun: sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the body

Bob Proctor
"The law of gender decrees there is a gestation or incubation period for the manifestation of all seeds, and, make no mistake about it, the image of wealth you chose to build on the screen of your conscious mind and then turned over to your subconscious mind is a seed; and it is growing into physical form, in the most fertile field of which you could ever conceive." [Bob Proctor, You Were Born Rich, page 98]