ruminate
English
WOTD – 21 November 2006
Etymology
1533, "to turn over in the mind," also "to chew cud" (1547), from Latin rūminātus, perfect active participle of rūminārī (“to chew the cud, turn over in the mind”), from rūmen (“the throat, gullet”), of uncertain origin.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɹumɪneɪt/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
ruminate (third-person singular simple present ruminates, present participle ruminating, simple past and past participle ruminated)
- (intransitive) To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen.
- A camel will ruminate just as a cow will.
- (intransitive) To meditate or reflect.
- I didn't answer right away because I needed to ruminate first.
- 2020 April 8, David Clough, “How the West Coast wiring war was won”, in Rail, page 59:
- Meanwhile, the MoT had itself also been ruminating on options for the northern half of the route.
- (transitive) To meditate or ponder over; to muse on.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- What I know / Is ruminated, plotted, and set down.
- 1697, Virgil, “Cinyras and Myrrha”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- Mad with desire, she ruminates her sin.
Conjugation
Conjugation of ruminate
| infinitive | (to) ruminate | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | ruminate | ruminated | |
| 2nd-person singular | ruminate, ruminatest† | ruminated, ruminatedst† | |
| 3rd-person singular | ruminates, ruminateth† | ruminated | |
| plural | ruminate | ||
| subjunctive | ruminate | ruminated | |
| imperative | ruminate | — | |
| participles | ruminating | ruminated | |
†Archaic or obsolete.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:ponder
- Or Thesaurus:think
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to chew cud
|
to meditate
|
Adjective
ruminate (not comparable)
- (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
See also
Further reading
- “ruminate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “ruminate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “ruminate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Italian
Verb
ruminate
- inflection of ruminare:
- second-person plural present indicative
- second-person plural imperative
Latin
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