Rŭ'mi-năn’ti-ă, n. pl.

(-năn’shĭ-ă), n. pl. [Lat. (sc. animalia), pl. neut. of ruminans. See supra.] (Nat. Hist.) A division of mammals having four stomachs, the first so situated as to receive a large quantity of vegetable matter coarsely bruised by a first mastication, which passes into the second, where it is moistened and formed into little pellets, which the animal has the power of bringing again to the mouth to be chewed again, after which it is swallowed into the third stomach, from which it passes to the fourth, where it is finally digested. The camel, the deer, the goat, the sheep, and animals of the bovine kind belong to this order, and all but the camel and llama have cloven hoofs, and incisors only in the lower jaw.