First attested in 1533;borrowed fromLatinrūminātus,perfectactiveparticiple ofrūminor(“to chew the cud, turn over in the mind”) (see-ate(verb-forming suffix)), fromrūmen(“the throat, gullet”) +-ō(verb-forming suffix), itself of uncertain origin.
ruminate (third-person singular simple presentruminates,present participleruminating,simple past and past participleruminated)
- (intransitive) Tochewcud. (Said ofruminants.) Involvesregurgitating partiallydigested food from therumen.
A camel willruminate just as a cow will.
1861,James W[addell] Alexander, “Remarks on the Studies and Discipline of the Preacher”, in S. D. A[lexander], editor,Thoughts on Preaching: Being Contributions to Homiletics, New York, N.Y.:Charles Scribner, […],→OCLC,page181:There is surely some point beyond which the acquisition of other men’s thoughts must not be carried. This we say for the sake of thosehelluones librorum, who read forever and without stint; browsing as diligently as oxen in the green herbage of rich meads, but, unlike these, never lying down toruminate. Life is too short, Art is too long, for a human mind to make perpetual accretion of book-learning, without halt.Sufflaminandum est.
- (intransitive) Tomeditate orreflect.
I didn't answer right away because I needed toruminate first.
1744, James Carson,Jemmy Carson’s collections: being a revival of his own labours and lucubrations, for thirty years past; with pieces upon different subjects, by several hands, Dublin:Yet do thou cherish thy Partner, whilst her innocent Eyes are gazing on the Green Garment, that covereth the Surface of her Illapidable Virginity,ruminating upon the Departure of her nearest and dearest Friend [...] In that Day, thee wilt see with the Eye of Flesh; but if thee pursues it farther, to know whether she be Lapidable, or not, thee art certainly a Tyrant: For the Hammer of thy Loins, will at length beat down the Fortress of her Porto Bello; and the Pillars of her Tabernace will be spread abroad, until thee hast plundered the City, and taken the Precious Stones away.
1848, Emanuel Swedenborg,The Philosophy of the Infinite; Outlines on a philosophical argument on the Infinite:In the present case, therefore, it now comes closer and closer, in thought, to the first finite; but before taking hold of it, and determining to explore it, the mind proposes, andruminates, certain middle questions, touching the actual existence of a nexus, and the possibility there is, of discovering the nature, and quality of the nexus, which subsists between the cause, and the causate, or between the infinite, and the first finite.
1912, Tickner Edwardes,Neighbourhood: A Year's Life in and about an English Village, page135:All its sweetness, its wild purity, its slow, sorrowful strength, and its sudden overtripping, overmastering joy , drifted out upon the sunshine of the meadow, the varied phrases coming turn and turn about with long intervening silences, as though the singerruminated on all the beauty before her, and unconsciously sang her thoughts aloud.
2020 April 8, David Clough, “How the West Coast wiring war was won”, inRail, page59:Meanwhile, the MoT had itself also beenruminating 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, […]”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene iii]:What I know / Isruminated, plotted, and set down.
1697,Virgil, “Cinyras and Myrrha”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC:Mad with desire, sheruminates her sin.
1801,Maria Edgeworth, “Belinda”, inTales and Novels, volume 6, New York: Harper & Brothers, published1835,page65:"Good-by, my dear Belinda; I leave you toruminate sweet and bitter thoughts; to think of the last speech and confession of Lady Delacour, or, what will interest you much more, the first speech and confession of—Clarence Harvey."
First attested in 1800, in the writings ofJohn Hull;borrowed fromLatinrūminātus, seeEtymology 1 and-ate(adjective-forming suffix).(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “reason behind the coinage”)
ruminate (notcomparable)
- (botany) Having a hardalbumen penetrated by irregular channels filled with softer matter, as thenutmeg and theseeds of the North Americanpapaw.
- aruminate endosperm
- “ruminate”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “ruminate”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “ruminate”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
ruminate
- inflection ofruminare:
- second-personpluralpresentindicative
- second-personpluralimperative
ruminate f pl
- feminineplural ofruminato
rūmināte
- vocativemasculinesingular ofrūminātus
