chew the cud
To ruminate (of ruminant animals).
CUD + NOUN
water
noun
The portion of food which is brought back into the mouth by ruminants from their rumen, to be chewed a second time.
verb
To bring back into the mouth and chew a second time.
Here were two ladies nearly fifty years old, throwing back their heads to sing love songs, nursery songs, hymns, God Save the Queen, Rule Britannia—songs that spilled over the drawing-room as easily as Small's cow songs spilled over the yard, only Small's songs were new, fresh grass snatched as the cow snatched pasture grass. The ladies’ songs were rechews—cudded fodder.
[…] although the wagon wheels perpetually flung up rivers of red sand, and she travelled in a column of whirling ruddy dust, the sweet perfumes of newly cudded grass mingled with it, mile after mile, as if the four-divided stomachs of the great oxen were filled with nothing but concentrated memories of hours of grazing along the water heavy vleis.
verb
Eye dialect spelling of could.
'Twas the anchor-ice comin' up. To the right, to the lift, as far as iver a man cud see, the water was covered with the same.
To ruminate (of ruminant animals).
Here were two ladies nearly fifty years old, throwing back their heads to sing love songs, nursery songs, hymns, God Save the Queen, Rule Britannia—songs that spilled over the drawing-room as easily a
Wiktionary[…] although the wagon wheels perpetually flung up rivers of red sand, and she travelled in a column of whirling ruddy dust, the sweet perfumes of newly cudded grass mingled with it, mile after mile,
Wiktionary'Twas the anchor-ice comin' up. To the right, to the lift, as far as iver a man cud see, the water was covered with the same.
WiktionaryCows spend hours just chewing their cud.
Tatoeba · #1768308Sami's camel was chewing his cud.
Tatoeba · #7220136The ewe was chewing the cud.
Tatoeba · #11169303i Register
In some senses, cud is marked as informal. Watch for register when choosing this word.