chew over
phr. v..phr. v.. to think about something carefully for a long time before making a decision.
phr. v.. to meditate on or ponder a subject at length; to consider an idea or problem thoroughly before reaching a conclusion.
I need some time to chew over your offer.
The committee spent the entire afternoon chewing over the new budget proposal before voting.
While the board members chewed over the implications of the merger, the CEO prepared a secondary strategy to address potential regulatory hurdles.
- Particles
- over
- Separability
- optional
- Pattern
- chew + (object) + over
usually used with abstract nouns like ideas, proposals, problems, or suggestions.
anchor this to the physical metaphor of chewing food slowly to digest it; this helps students remember that the process is slow and thorough.
He chewed over it.He chewed it over.while 'chew over' is often used with a noun after it, when using a pronoun, it is more natural to place it between the verb and the particle.