Ru`mi*na"tion (?), n. [L. ruminatio: cf. F. rumination.]
1.
The act or process of ruminating, or chewing the cud; the habit of chewing the cud.
Rumination is given to animals to enable them at once to lay up a great store of food, and afterward to chew it.
Arbuthnot.
2.
The state of being disposed to ruminate or ponder; deliberate meditation or reflection.
Retiring full of rumination sad.
Thomson.
3. Physiol.
The regurgitation of food from the stomach after it has been swallowed, -- occasionally oberved as a morbid phenomenon in man.
© Webster 1913.