| 释义 |
ruminant, n. and a.|ˈruːmɪnənt|
[ad. L. rūminant-, pr. pple. of rūminārī or rūmināre to ruminate. Cf. F. ruminant, Pg. and It. ruminante, Sp. rumiante.]
A. n.
a. An animal that chews the cud; one of the Ruminantia.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Isagoge a 3 b, Four-footed beasts which..are either cornigerous ruminants..or ruminants without hornes, as the Camel, dromedary. 1714Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. xi. (1739) 635 The Description these give of the muscular Part of the Gullet..is very exact in Ruminants. 1806Phil. Trans. XCVI. 370 The ruminants with horns..have two preparatory stomachs for the food previous to rumination. 1847W. C. L. Martin The Ox 31/1 Peculiarities which distinguish between the ruminants and all other herbivorous quadrupeds. 1879tr. Semper's Anim. Life 32 No one will expect to find..buffaloes, stags, and other Ruminants in Australia.
Comb.1883Encycl. Brit. XV. 417 The complex ruminant-like organ of the Lemming.
b. A contemplative person. rare.
1940C. S. Lewis Let. 22 Mar. (1966) 179 Why should quiet ruminants like you and I have been born in such a ghastly age?
B. adj.
1. a. Chewing the cud, ruminating.
1691Ray Creation ii. (1692) 125 They [sc. camels] are Ruminant Creatures, and have four Stomacks. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) I. 337 Of all ruminant animals, those of the Cow kind deserve the first rank. 1822Good Study Med. (1829) I. 4 In the ruminant animals..the alimentary canal is twenty-seven times the length of the body. 1882Knowledge Aug. 159 A curious mixture of the characters of Pigs and Ruminant animals.
†b. Astr. Represented by ruminant animals.
1679Moxon Math. Dict. 133 Ruminant Signs, are those Signs of the Zodiack represented by Creatures that use that Quality, viz. Aries, Taurus, and Capricorn.
2. Contemplative, meditative.
1849Thoreau Week Concord Riv. Monday 131 Arabia, Persia, and Hindostan, the lands of contemplation and dwelling places of the ruminant nations. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. v. §10 He enjoys a quiet misty afternoon in a ruminant sort of way. 1883Cent. Mag. Sept. 746 One of the long-haired ruminant men stood up.
Hence ˈruminantly adv.
1847Webster, Ruminantly, by chewing. 1893Scribner's Mag. June 787/1 ‘You are an angel, Fred,’ she repeated, ruminantly. |
