Word of the Day

: November 6, 2011

ruminate

verb ROO-muh-nayt

What It Means

1 : to engage in contemplation : meditate

2 : to chew again what has been chewed slightly and swallowed : chew the cud

ruminate in Context

After meeting with her counselor, Meg passed the afternoon ruminating on the question of what to do with her life.

"We could ruminate all day about the negatives of economic downturns. But that wouldn't make us any money. Instead, let's focus on the ways that hard times actually help the economy." -- From an article by Buck Hartzell on DailyFinance.com, September 22, 2011

Did You Know?

When you ruminate you chew something over, either literally or figuratively. Literal rumination may seem a little gross to humans, but to cows, chewing your cud (that's partially digested food brought up from the stomach for another chew) is just a natural part of life. Figurative ruminating is much more palatable to humans; that kind of deep, meditative thought is often deemed quite a worthy activity. The verb "ruminate" has described metaphorical chewing over since the early 1500s and actual chewing since later that same century. Our English word derives from and shares the meanings of the Latin "ruminari," which in turn derives from "rumen," the Latin name for the first stomach compartment of ruminant animals (that is, creatures like cows that chew their cud).