rumination

[Lat. ruminatio, from rum in at us, pa. par. of rumino =to ruminate (q. v.).] 1. Lit. & Animal Physiol. The act of chewing the cud. The food of the ruminants is gra , which requires a longer series of chemical changes to convert a portion of it into blood than does the flesh of other animals eaten by the Carnivora. To produce these changes there is a complex stomach divided into four parts, the Rumex or Paunch, the Reticulum or Honeycomb Bag, the Psalterium or Manyplies, and the Abomasum or Reed. A ruminant does not chew the fodder which it eats, but simply swallows it. When it has had enough it retires to a quiet spot, forces up again to the mouth a portion of the food in its paunch, thoroughly chews if and then swallows it again. Another and another bolus is thus disposed of. Each of these, started from the paunch, was forced next into the honeycomb bag where it received its form and then went up the gullet. On returning it pa ed direct from the paunch into the manyplies or third stomach, and then to the abomasum. 2. Fig .: The act of ruminating or meditating; a musing, pondering, or reflecting on a subject; meditation, reflection. "Retiring full of rumination sad." Thomson: Autumn, 568. rû-min-ā-tive, adj. [Eng. ruminat(e); -ive.] Given to ruminating. "He was as ruminative as a cow."-F. W. Robinson: Bridge of Gla , ch. i.