Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To turn a matter over and over in the mind.
- intransitive verb To chew cud.
- intransitive verb To reflect on over and over again.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To chew the cud, as a ruminant; practise rumination.
- To muse; meditate; think again and again; ponder: as, to
ruminate on misfortunes. - To chew again.
- To turn over in the mind; muse on; meditate over and over.
- In botany, appearing as if chewed: noting a structure of the endosperm (albumen) of a seed which gives a mottled appearance to its section, and which results from the infolding of a dark inner layer of the seed-coat into the lighter-colored matter of the endosperm, as in the nutmeg.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Bot.) Having a hard albumen penetrated by irregular channels filled with softer matter, as the nutmeg and the seeds of the North American papaw.
- transitive verb To chew over again.
- transitive verb To meditate or ponder over; to muse on.
- intransitive verb To chew the cud; to chew again what has been slightly chewed and swallowed.
- intransitive verb To think again and again; to muse; to meditate; to ponder; to reflect.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
chew cud . (Said ofruminants .) Involvesregurgitating partiallydigested food from therumen . - verb intransitive To
meditate orreflect . - adjective botany Having a hard albumen penetrated by irregular channels filled with softer matter, as the nutmeg and the seeds of the North American papaw.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb chew the cuds
- verb reflect deeply on a subject
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Again the word "rumination" suggestions an oddly somatic association: to ruminate is to turn over in mind and mouth (as in: chewing the cud).
The Ordinary Sky: Wordsworth, Blanchot, and the Writing of Disaster 2008
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So, once again I come back to my lj after a bit of a lapse - but I just need somewhere to ruminate (ruminate is a word, yes?
Susannah's Journal skittledog 2005
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Their study, which included 1,300 men and women from ages 25 to 75, focused on a person's tendency to "ruminate," which they defined as getting stuck obsessing on negative emotions when trouble enters one's life.
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If it was a shepherd, they would like to inquire "if he was not a _baa_ - keeper?" and the first would reply that he would have to "ruminate" on it before he made his answer; and the second would hope his reply would be "_spirited_; if not he had better be _punched_ up."
Brook Farm John Thomas Codman
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'Monsieur l'administrateur,' something about their habits; stick some labels into the sand with their Latin names, tell us how they manage to feather their nests, whether they 'ruminate' over their food -- and we shall have added to our store of knowledge at the seaside!
Normandy Picturesque Henry Blackburn 1863
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I'll be copying your reply with paper and pencil so that I can "ruminate" on it further.
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I'll be copying your reply with paper and pencil so that I can "ruminate" on it further.
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The man's stories may stick around in your head once you leave the soup kitchen, and you will ruminate on them, reviewing the details worriedly in circles.
Bernie Glassman: The Buddhist Way Of Being Present To Suffering Bernie Glassman 2011
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The man's stories may stick around in your head once you leave the soup kitchen, and you will ruminate on them, reviewing the details worriedly in circles.
Bernie Glassman: The Buddhist Way Of Being Present To Suffering Bernie Glassman 2011
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The Pandavas, the sons of King Pandu, won the battle but lost the war that shattered the world they knew only to ruminate the rest of their lives in the emptiness of what they had won.
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