Word of the Day

: October 15, 2011

regurgitate

verb ree-GUR-juh-tayt

What It Means

: to throw or be thrown back, up, or out

regurgitate in Context

Instead of sharing some new ideas, the book regurgitates the same old arguments that other authors have tried before.

"Vultures often regurgitate indigestible parts of the things they feed on, which adds to the mess on the ground below the eucalyptus trees." -- From an article by Gary Bogue in San Jose Mercury News (California), August 30, 2011

Did You Know?

Something regurgitated has typically been taken in, at least partially digested, and then spit back out . . . either literally or figuratively. The word often appears in biological contexts (e.g., in describing how some birds feed their chicks by regurgitating incompletely digested food), or in references to ideas or information that have been acquired and restated. A student, for example, might be expected to learn information from a textbook or a teacher and then regurgitate it for a test. "Regurgitate," which entered the English vocabulary in the mid-17th century, is of Latin origin and traces back to the Latin word for "whirlpool," which is "gurges."