ruminate

1533, "to turn over in the mind," also "to chew cud" (1547), from Latin rūminātus, past participle of rūmināre (“to chew the cud, turn over in the mind”), from rūmen (“the throat, gullet”), of uncertain origin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹumɪneɪt/

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ruminate (third-person singular simple present ruminates, present participle ruminating, simple past and past participle ruminated)

1. (intransitive) To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen.

   A camel will ruminate just as a cow will.

2. (intransitive) To meditate or reflect.

   I didn't answer right away because I needed to ruminate first.

3. (transitive) To meditate or ponder over; to muse on.
   • Shakespeare

     What I know / Is ruminated, plotted, and set down.

   • Dryden

     Mad with desire, she ruminates her sin.

• See also Thesaurus:ponder
• Or Thesaurus:think

• ruminator

• rumen
• ruminant
• rumination

ruminate (not comparable)

1. (botany) Having a hard albumen penetrated by irregular channels filled with softer matter, as the nutmeg and the seeds of the North American papaw.

   a ruminate endosperm

• chew the cud

• ruminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ruminate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• ruminate at OneLook Dictionary Search

ruminate

1. second-person plural present indicative of ruminare
2. second-person plural imperative of ruminare
3. feminine plural of ruminato

• numerati

rūmināte

1. vocative masculine singular of rūminātus