RUMINANT

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ruminant mean? 

• RUMINANT (noun)
  The noun RUMINANT has 1 sense:

1. any of various cud-chewing hoofed mammals having a stomach divided into four (occasionally three) compartments

  Familiarity information: RUMINANT used as a noun is very rare.

• RUMINANT (adjective)
  The adjective RUMINANT has 1 sense:

1. related to or characteristic of animals of the suborder Ruminantia or any other animal that chews a cud

  Familiarity information: RUMINANT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RUMINANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various cud-chewing hoofed mammals having a stomach divided into four (occasionally three) compartments

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("ruminant" is a kind of...):

artiodactyl; artiodactyl mammal; even-toed ungulate (placental mammal having hooves with an even number of functional toes on each foot)

Meronyms (parts of "ruminant"):

first stomach; rumen (the first compartment of the stomach of a ruminant; here food is collected and returned to the mouth as cud for chewing)

reticulum; second stomach (the second compartment of the stomach of a ruminant)

omasum; psalterium; third stomach (the third compartment of the stomach of a ruminant)

abomasum; fourth stomach (the fourth compartment of the stomach of a ruminant; the one where digestion takes place)

Domain member category:

ruminate (chew the cuds)

predigest (digest (food) beforehand)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ruminant"):

pollard (a usually horned animal that has either shed its horns or had them removed)

bovid (hollow-horned ruminants)

American antelope; Antilocapra americana; prongbuck; pronghorn; pronghorn antelope (fleet antelope-like ruminant of western North American plains with small branched horns)

cervid; deer (distinguished from Bovidae by the male's having solid deciduous antlers)

chevrotain; mouse deer (very small hornless deer-like ruminant of tropical Asia and west Africa)

camelopard; Giraffa camelopardalis; giraffe (tallest living quadruped; having a spotted coat and small horns and very long neck and legs; of savannahs of tropical Africa)

Holonyms ("ruminant" is a member of...):

Ruminantia; suborder Ruminantia (cattle; bison; sheep; goats; antelopes; deer; chevrotains; giraffes; camels)

Derivation:

ruminate (chew the cuds)

• RUMINANT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Related to or characteristic of animals of the suborder Ruminantia or any other animal that chews a cud

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

ruminant mammals

Antonym:

nonruminant (not ruminant)

Pertainym:

Ruminantia (cattle; bison; sheep; goats; antelopes; deer; chevrotains; giraffes; camels)

Derivation:

ruminate (chew the cuds)

 Context examples 

The third compartment of the forestomach of ruminants with many long folds of mucosa (resembling a book).

(Omasum, NCI Thesaurus)

G. sulfidifaciens may occur in pairs, chains or singly and is most often isolated from ruminants and pigs and is not a noted human pathogen.

(Globicatella sulfidifaciens, NCI Thesaurus)

Phelboviruses are mosquito-borne and humans, ruminants and camels are natural hosts.

(Phlebovirus, NCI Thesaurus)

The glandular stomach of the ruminant.

(Abomasum, NCI Thesaurus)

Any of various hollow-horned, bearded ruminant mammals of the genus Capra, originally of mountainous areas of the Old World, especially any of the domesticated forms of C. hircus, raised for wool, milk, and meat.

(Goat, NCI Thesaurus)