ENGLISH
REFERENCE

chew the cud

idiom
Meaning

To meditate or ponder before answering; to be deep in thought; to ruminate.


Examples
SIMPLE

He sat quietly to chew the cud before making his decision.

CONTEXTUAL

She took a long walk by the river to chew the cud about her difficult career choice.

COMPLEX

The philosopher preferred to chew the cud on the nature of existence rather than engage in idle, superficial conversation.

Anchors to
Related idioms7entries
  1. 01

    bite off more than one can chew

    To try to do too much; to take on or attempt more than one is capable of doing.

  2. 02

    chew off

    To reprimand, to scold

  3. 03

    chew on

    To consider, to ponder.

  4. 04

    chew the meat and spit out the bones

    To take in a great deal of information and selectively disregard some of it as invalid or inapplicable.

  5. 05

    chew the scenery

    To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.

  6. 06

    chew up

    To ruin (especially land), by digging.

  7. 07

    walk and chew gum at the same time

    To do two normally trivial tasks at the same time; to exhibit basic competence or task-management skills.

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