v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Ruminated p. pr. & vb. n. Ruminating. ] [ L. ruminatus, p. p. of ruminari, ruminare, fr. rumen, -inis, throat, akin to ructare to belch, erugere to belch out, Gr. &unr_;, AS. roccettan. ] 1. To chew the cud; to chew again what has been slightly chewed and swallowed. “Cattle free to ruminate.” Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: To think again and again; to muse; to meditate; to ponder; to reflect. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Apart from the hope of the gospel, who is there that ruminates on the felicity of heaven? I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To chew over again. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: To meditate or ponder over; to muse on. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mad with desire, she ruminates her sin. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

What I know
Is ruminated, plotted, and set down. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , a. (Bot.) Having a hard albumen penetrated by irregular channels filled with softer matter, as the nutmeg and the seeds of the North American papaw. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ruminatio: cf. F. rumination. ] 1. The act or process of ruminating, or chewing the cud; the habit of chewing the cud. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rumination is given to animals to enable them at once to lay up a great store of food, and afterward to chew it. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being disposed to ruminate or ponder; deliberate meditation or reflection. [ 1913 Webster ]

Retiring full of rumination sad. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Physiol.) The regurgitation of food from the stomach after it has been swallowed, -- occasionally observed as a morbid phenomenon in man. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Inclined to, or engaged in, rumination or meditation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] One who ruminates or muses; a meditator. [ 1913 Webster ]