a. [ L. ruminalis. ] (Zool.) Ruminant; ruminating. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ruminans, -antis, p. pr.: cf. F. ruminant. See Ruminate. ] (Zool.) Chewing the cud; characterized by chewing again what has been swallowed; of or pertaining to the Ruminantia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A ruminant animal; one of the Ruminantia. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. ] (Zool.) A division of Artiodactyla having four stomachs. This division includes the camels, deer, antelopes, goats, sheep, neat cattle, and allies. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The vegetable food, after the first mastication, enters the first stomach (r). It afterwards passes into the second (n), where it is moistened, and formed into pellets which the animal has the power of bringing back to the mouth to be chewed again, after which it is swallowed into the third stomach (m), whence it passes to the fourth (s), where it is finally digested. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a ruminant manner; by ruminating, or chewing the cud. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]