ruminative 
especially, given to meditation or thought. 
2. Marked by rumination or careful reflection ; 
well-considered. 
.Such a thing as philosophical analysis, of calm, rumina- 
tive deliberation upon the principles of government, . . . 
seems unknown to them. The Atlantic, LXIV. 610 
ruminator (ro'mi-na-tor), . [= Sp. rumina- 
dor = It. ruminatore, < LL. rwmittator, < L. rumi- 
nare or ruminari, ruminate: see ruminate.} 
One who ruminates or muses on any subject ; 
one who pauses to deliberate and consider. 
ruminet(ro"min),0. *. [< OF. rummer, < L.rwmi- 
nare, ruminate : see ruminate,] To ruminate. 
As studious scholar, he &elt-rumineth 
His lessons giv'n. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 1. 6. 
ruillkin't (rum'kin), n. [Also rumken, romkin, 
romekin ; perhaps for *rummerkin, < rummer + 
-kin."] A kind of drinking-vessel ; a rummer. 
Gaylon. 
Wine ever flowing in large Saxon romekins 
About my board. 
Sir W. Daaenant, The Wits, iv. 2. 
rumkin- (rum'kin), H. [Perhaps < rump + 
-kin.~\ A tailless fowl. Haliiwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
nunly (rum'li), ad<\ [< rii a + -ty 2 .] In a 
rum manner; finely; well: often used ironi- 
cally. See nun 2 , a. [Slang.] 
We straight betook ourselves to the Boozing ken ; and, 
having bubb'd rumlij, we concluded an everlasting friend- 
ship. R. Head, English Rogue (1865), quoted in Rluton- 
[Turner's Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 621. 
rummage (rum'aj), r. ; pret. and pp. rummaged, 
ppr. rummaging. [Early mod. E. rummage, 
*romm(ige,roimidge,ronutge, roomage; < room- 
age, n.: see roomage.'] I. trans. If. To adjust 
the roomage or capacity of (a ship) witli refer- 
ence to the cargo ; arrange or stow the cargo of 
(a ship) in the hold; especially, to clear by the 
removal of goods: as, to rummage a ship. 
Vse your indeuotir and faithful! diligence in charging, 
discharging, lading againe, and roomaging of the same 
shippe. llakluyt's Voyages, I. 234. 
2. To move to and fro the contents of, as in a 
search; ransack; hunt through; explore: as, 
to rummage a trunk. 
By this time the English knew the Logwood Trees as 
growing ; and, understanding their value, began to rum- 
mage other Coasts of the Main in search of it. 
Datnpicr, Voyages, II. ii. 47. 
Upon this they fell again to romage the will. 
Swift, Tale of a Tub, il. 
At low water I went on board ; and (hough I thought I 
had rummiged the cabin so effectually as that nothing 
more could be found, yet I discovered a locker with 
drawers in it. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, iv. 
Hortense was rummaging her drawers up-stalrs an 
unaccountable occupation, in which she spent a large por- 
tion of each day, arranging, disarranging, re-arranging, 
and counter-arranging. Charlotte Bnnle, Shirley, vi. 
3. To set in motion; stir; hence, specifically, 
to mix by stirring or some other form of agita- 
tion: as, to rummage a liquid. 
The Feuer . . . now posting, sometimes pawsing, 
Euen as the matter, all these changes causing, 
Is rommidfied with motions slowe or quick 
In feeble bodies of the Ague sick. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Furies. 
When finings are put into casks of wine, and are stirred 
round and round with great veloci ybya stick introduced 
at the shive-hole, that is called rwaimagiitg a cask ; and if 
the cask is quite full to the bung a little will overflow in 
so doing. C. A. Ward, N. and Q., 6th ser., IX. 478. 
If rummaged well together, the whole [mixture] should 
be clear and bright in one day's time. 
Spores' Encyc. Manuf., I. 223. 
4. To bring to light by searching. 
We'll go in a body and rummage out the badger in 
Birkenwood-bank. Scott, Rob Roy, xii. 
The two ladies rummaged up. out of the recesses of their 
memory, such horrid stories of robbery and murder that 
I quite quaked in my shoes. Mrs. (faskell, Cranford, x. 
II. intrans. If. To arrange or stow the cargo 
of a ship in the hold. 
Giue the master or Boatswaine. or him that will take 
upon him to romage, a good reward for his labour to see 
the goods well romaged. Uakluyt 8 Voyages, I. 300. 
2. To search narrowly, especially by moving 
about and looking among the things in the 
place searched ; execute a search. 
Ill merely relate what, in spite of the pains 
I have taken to rummage among his remains, 
No edition of Shakspeare I've met wilh contains. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 58. 
So they found at Babylon, . . . 
In rummaging among the rarities, 
A certain coffer. Browning, Sordello. 
3f. To make a stir, bustle, or disturbance. 
I speak this the rather to prevent . . . the imprudent 
romaying that is like to be in England, from Villages to 
Townes, from Townes to Cities, for churches sake to the 
undoing of Societies, Friendships. Kindreds, Families. 
H. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 45. 
5268 
rummage (rum'aj), n. [< rummage , r.] 1. The 
act of rummaging, in any sense; the act of 
searching a place, especially by turning over 
the contents. 2. A stirring or bustling about ; 
a disturbance; an upheaval. 
The source of this our watch, and the chief head 
Of this post-haste and romage in the land. 
Shak., hamlet, i. 1. 107. 
There is a new bill which, under the notion of prevent- 
ing clandes:ine marriages, has made . . . a general rum- 
maye and reform in the office of matrimony. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 334. 
3. Lumber; rubbish. Hattiwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
Rummage sale, a clearing-out sale of unclaimed goods 
at docks, or of miscellaneous articles left in a warehouse. 
rummager (rum'aj-er), n. [Early mod. E. rom- 
ager, roomager ; < rummage, v., + -er 1 .] If. 
One who arranges or stows the cargo on a ship. 
The master must prouide a perfect mariner called a 
Romager, to raunge and bestow all marchandize in such 
place as is couuenient. Hakluyt's Voyages, III. 862. 
2. One who searches. 
The smuggler exercises great cunning, and does his ut- 
most to outwit the customs rummager. 
Set. Amer., N. S., LIX. 372. 
rummer (rum'er), n. [< D. roemer, formerly 
also romer, = Q, romer = Sw. remmare, a drink- 
ing-glass; said to be orig. G. (used for Rhenish 
wine according to Phillips; cf. "Rheiiish rum- 
mers "in the first quot. ), and so called because 
used in the Romer-saal at Frankfort (Skeat), lit. 
'hall of the Romans': Romer, < Rom, Rome; 
saal, hall (see sale 2 ). Cf. rumkin 1 ."] A drink- 
ing-glass or -cup ; also, a cupful of wine or other 
liquor. The name is especially given to the tall and 
showy glasses, nearly cylindrical in form and without 
stem, which are identified with German glassware of the 
seventeenth century. 
Then Rhenish rummers walk the round, 
In bumpers every king is crown'd. 
Dryden, To Sir George Etherege, 1. 45. 
Ordered in a whole bottle of the best port the beggarly 
place could afford tossed it off in an ecstacyof two rum- 
mers, and died on the spot of sheer joy. 
Koctes Ambrosianee, Sept., 1832. 
rummilgumption (rum'il-gump'shon), . 
Same as rumblegumption. 
rummle (rum'l), r. A dialectal form of rumble. 
rummy 1 (rum'i), o. [< rwrn 1 + -y 1 .] Of or 
pertaining to rum : as, a rummy flavor. 
rummy 2 (rum'i), a. [< r 2 + -y 1 .] Rum ; 
queer. [Slang.] 
Although a rummy codger, 
Now list to what I say. 
Old Song, In N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 97. 
rumneyt, romneyt (rum'ni), n. [< ME. rumney. 
romney, romitay, < OF. "romenie, < It. romania, 
" a kind of excellent wine in Italy, like malme- 
sie " (Florio), so called from Napoli di Romania, 
in the Morea, where it was orig. produced.] A 
kind of sweet wine. 
Larkys in hot schow, ladys for to pyk, 
Good drynk therto, lycyus and fyne, 
Blwet of allmayne. rmimay and wyin. 
/,'.(. Antiq., ii. 30. (llulliiirll.) 
All black wines, over-hot, compound, strong, thick 
drinks, as muscadine, malmsie, allegant, rumny. brown 
bastard, metheglen, and the like. . . . are hurtful in this 
case. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 70. 
Malmsey, romney, sack, and other sweet wines. 
S. DoweU, Taxes in England, IV. 80. 
rumor, rumour (ro'mor), n. [< ME. rumour, 
romour, reumor, < OF. rumour, rumor, remour, 
rwneur, F. rumeiir = Pr. rimor, rumor = Sp. Pg. 
rumor = It. rimore, romore, noise, rumor, = D. 
rumoer = G. Dan. Sw. rumor, noise, uproar, < 
L. rumor, a noise, rumor, murmur; cf. L. rv- 
mificare, proclaim, LL. rumitare, spread re- 
ports; Skt. /^*ih um it>i > ay. Cf. rumble.] 1. A 
confused and indistinct noise ; a vague sound ; 
a murmur. 
And whan these com on ther was so grete toile and 
rmnour of noyse that wonder it was to heere, and ther- 
w^h a-roos so grete a duste that the cleir sky wax all 
derk. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 393. 
I pray yon, bear me hence 
From forth the noise and rumour of the field. 
Shak , K. John, v. 4. 45. 
For many a week 
Hid from the wide world's rumour by the grove 
Of pop'ars with their noise of falling showers, 
And ever-tremulous aspen-trees, he lay. 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
2. Flying or popular report; the common voice. 
Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo, 
The numbers of the fear'd. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 1.97. 
Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 
Nor in the glistering foil 
Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies. 
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 80. 
That talkative maiden, Rumor, though . . . figured as 
a youthful winged beauty, . . . is in fact a very old maid, 
rumple 
who puckers her silly face by the fireside, and really does 
no more than chirp a wrong guess or a lame story into 
the ear of a fellow-gossip. George Eliot, >elix llolt, viil. 
3. A current report, with or without founda- 
tion; commonly, a story or statement passing 
from one person to another without any known 
authority for its truth ; a mere report ; a piece 
of idle gossip. 
When ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye 
not troubled. Mark xiii. 7. 
I find the people strangely fanlnsied ; 
Fossess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams. 
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 145. 
What record, or what relic of my lord 
Should be to aftertime, but empty breath 
And rumours of a doubt? 
Tennyson, Morte d' Arthur. 
4. Fame; reported celebrity ; reputation. 
Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight. 
Shak.,1 Hen. VI., ii. 3. 7. 
Go forth, and let the rumor of thee run 
Through every land that is beneath the sun. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 277. 
5t. A voice ; a message. 
I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador 
is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together. 
Jer. xlix. 14. 
= Syn. 2 and 3. Talk, gossip, hearsay. 
rumor, rumour (ro'mor), r. /. [< rumor, .] 
To report ; tell or circulate by report ; spread 
abroad. 
Rumour it abroad 
That Anne, my wife, is sick and like to die. 
Shak, Rich. III., iv. 2. SI. 
Where nothing is examined, weighed, 
But as 'tis rumoured, so believed. 
B. Jonson, The Forest, Iv., To the World. 
rumorer, rumourer (ro'mor-er), 71. [< rumor 
+ -er 1 .] One who rumors; a spreader of re- 
ports; a teller of news. [Rare.] 
Go see this rumourer wjiipp'd. Shak., Cor., iv. 6. 47. 
rumorous (ro'mor-us), a. [Formerly also ru- 
mouroux; < OF."rumoreux = Sp. It. rumoroso, 
noisy, < ML. rumorosun, < L. rumor, noise, ru- 
mor: see rumor."] 1. Of the nature of rumor; 
circulated by popular report. [Rare.] 
This bearer will tell you what we hear of certain rumor- 
oui surmises at N. and the neighbouring towns. 
Sir H. Walton, Reliquite, p. 377. 
2. Confused or indistinct in sound ; vaguely 
heard ; murmuring. [Rare.] 
Clashing of armours, and the rumorous sound 
Of the stern billows, in contention stood. 
Drayton, Moses, iii. 
rump (rump), . [< ME. rumpc, appar. < Icel. 
rumpr = Sw. rumpa = Dan. rumi>e, rump (the 
Scand. forms appar. from the D. or LG.), = 
MD. rompe, D. romp, a body or trunk, = MLG. 
LG. rump = MHO. G. runipf, the bulk or trunk 
of a body, a trunk, carcass, hull.] 1. The tail- 
end of an animal ; the hinder parts ; the back- 
side or buttocks ; technically, the gluteal or 
uropygial region ; the uropygium. See sacrum 
and uropygium. 2. Figuratively, the fag-end 
of a thing. Specifically [cap ]. in Eng. hist., the fag-end 
of the Long Parliament, after the expulsion of the major- 
ity of its members, or Pride's Purge, by Cromwell in 1648. 
The Rump was forcibly dissolved by Cromwell in 1653, 
but was afterward reinstated on two different occasions 
for brief periods. Also called Rump Parliament. 
rump (rump), v. t. [< rump, .] To turn one's 
back upon. [Rare.] 
This mythologick Deity was Flutus, 
The grand Livinity of Cash, 
Who, when he rumps us quite, and won't salute us, 
If we are men of Commerce, then we smash. 
Colnum, Poetical Vagaries, p. 129. (Davies.') 
rump-bone (rump'bon), n. Same as sacrum. 
rumpert (rum'per), . [< rump + -er 1 .'] One 
who was favorable to. or was a member of, the 
Rump Parliament. See rump, 2. 
Tills day, according to order, Sir Arthur appeared at 
the House; what was done I know not, but there was all 
the rumpers almost come to the House today. 
Pepys, Diary, March 7, 1660. 
Neither was the art of blasphemy or free-thinking in- 
vented by the court, . . . but first brought in by the f anat ick 
faction, towards the end of their power, and, after the res- 
toration, carried to Whitehall by the converted rumpers, 
with very good reason. Swift, Polite Conversation, Int. 
rump-fedt (rump'f ed), a. [< rump + fed. pp. of 
feed."] Fed on offal or scraps from the kitchen 
(according to Nares, fed, or fattened, in the 
rump; fat-bottomed). [Rare.] 
Aroint thee, witch ! the rump. fed ronyon cries. 
Shak., Macbeth, i. 3. 6. 
rumple (mm'pl), . i. ; pret. and pp. rumpled, 
ppr. rumpling. [A yar. of ritnple, q. v.] To 
wrinkle ; make uneven ; form into irregular in- 
equalities. 
The peremptory Analysis, that you will call it, I beleeve 
will be so hardy as once more to unpinne your spruce fas- 
