A.Word.A.Day --ruminate

A.Word.A.Day

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Oct 17, 2016

This week’s theme
Words that appear to be coined after someone (but aren’t)

This week’s words
ruminate
bushwa
obambulate
trumpery
hilarity

“All words are pegs to hang ideas on.” ~Beecher
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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Did Rumi ruminate? We don’t know for sure. He was a poet and mystic, so most likely he did ruminate a bit. The word ruminate isn’t derived from his name, but it very well could have been.

This week we have selected five words that appear to be coined after someone, but aren’t. Now Rumi out of the way, the rest of the week we’ll feature words that appear to be after four living persons: the previous US president, the current president, a president wannabe, and the next president. Which one is which is left as an exercise for the reader (and the voter).

ruminate

PRONUNCIATION:

(ROO-mi-nayt)

MEANING:

verb tr., intr.: 1. To think deeply upon. 2. To chew the cud.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin ruminare (to chew the cud), from rumen (throat). Earliest documented use: 1533.

USAGE:

“A 33-year-old writer and teacher named Ben is ruminating on the possibility of a second novel.”
Philip Maughan; Future Fiction; New Statesman (London, UK); Jan 16-22, 2015.

See more usage examples of ruminate in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (17 Oct 1915-2005)

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