Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RU-MI-NA'TION, n. [L. ruminatio.]

1. The act of chewing the cud.
2. The power or property 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.
3. A musing or continued thinking on a subject; deliberate meditation or reflection. Retiring full of rumination sad. Thomson.