regurgitate
part of speech
verb (regurgitate, regurgitates, regurgitated, regurgitating); noun regurgitation
meaning for a pupil
1) To regurgitate food is to bring swallowed food back up into the mouth. tree →
2) (science) Some animals regurgitate food on purpose to feed their babies, like birds and wolves. tree →
3) (informal, school) To regurgitate facts is to repeat what you learnt word for word without really understanding it. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons on animals, birds regurgitate food for chicks, cows bring up cud to chew again, and owls regurgitate pellets of bones and fur that pupils dissect. In school, teachers warn against just regurgitating facts in an exam; explain in your own words instead.
examples
- The mother bird regurgitates worms into her chicks' mouths. tree →
- Owls regurgitate pellets full of tiny bones. tree →
- The baby regurgitated a bit of milk on Dad's shirt. tree →
- Cows regurgitate their food and chew it again. tree →
- Don't just regurgitate the textbook — explain it in your own words. tree →
- Penguins regurgitate fish to feed their young. tree →
- We dissected an owl pellet that the owl had regurgitated. tree →
note
A polite or scientific word for bringing food back up; "be sick" or "vomit" are more common for people. Spelling: re-gurg-i-tate. The school sense means copying facts without understanding.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «regurgitate» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.