ruminate

Meanings

Verb

• To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen.
• To meditate or reflect.
• To meditate or ponder over; to muse on.

Adjective

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

Origin

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