hatchery

Noun

hatchery (plural hatcheries)

1. A (commercial) facility where eggs, especially those of fish or poultry, are hatched under artificial conditions.
   • [A]s the interior of the hatchery was necessarily gloomy and dingy, otherwise it could not have answered its objects, a hole was pierced through the wall, large enough to place an egg in; and through this orifice it was examined [to see if the chicken egg was fertilized], with the aid of the...1857, William C[harles] Milne, chapter I, in Life in China, [2nd] edition, London; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] Routledge & Co. […], published 1858, →OCLC, 4th part (Shanghai), page 319
   • The codfish hatchery at Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, has been highly successful.1885 December 26, “Summary of Events”, in The Friend: A Religious and Literary Journal, volume LIX, number 21, Philadelphia, Pa.: […] William H. Pile, published 1886, →OCLC, page 168, column 1
2. (figuratively) A place where something is fostered or nurtured; a nursery.
   • [T]he TVA [Tennessee Valley Authority] is itself a hatchery of public enterprise, as in the disposal of electric power it is required by statute to give preference to States, counties, municipalities, and non-profit co-operative associations.1942 October, David Mitrany, “The New Deal: An Interpretation of Its Origin and Nature”, in Agenda, volume 1, number 4, Oxford, Oxfordshire: [F]or the London School of Economics and Political Science...