chew the cud

Idioms and Phrases

Also, chew over . Ponder over, meditate, as in John tends to chew the cud before he answers , or Let me chew that over and let you know . The first term, first recorded in 1382, transfers the appearance of a patiently ruminating cow to a person deep in thought. The variant was first recorded in 1696.

Example Sentences

If all the shoes professing Italian heritage really were from Italian cattle, cows would drink from the Trevi fountain and chew the cud in Piazza San Marco.

From The Guardian

From London, Rabaiotti said methane emissions from cattle are belch-focused because the gas is produced near the start of their digestive system and comes up when they regurgitate their food to chew the cud.

From Washington Times

Then they had their supper, and the Red Cow showed the Red Calf how to select a good blade of grass from a bad one; and when her child had gone to sleep at night she would go into a corner of the field and chew the cud and think her own quiet thoughts.

From Literature

"It is as if the animals on the farm should insist on changing places - the cows insist upon drawing the coach, while the horses strive in vain to chew the cud and ruminate."

From BBC

The hens perched themselves on the window-sills, the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters, the sheep and cows lay down behind the pigs and began to chew the cud.

From Literature