reingestv.
/riːɪnˈdʒɛst/, U.S. /riᵻnˈdʒɛst/ Chiefly Zoology.
transitive. To ingest (material which has been ejected or secreted from the body); spec. (of a mammal) to eat (its own excrement) to allow secondary digestion (cf. reingestion n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating specific substances or food > eat specific substances or food [verb (transitive)] > eat excrement or faecal pellets
reingest1870
refect1953
1870 4th Ann. Rep. Board of Health State N.Y. 1869 406 The very substances, whose retention..is so speedily fatal, are reingested, and reënter the circulation through the lungs.
1919 Jrnl. Parisitol. 5 96 It is possible that the worms found had been reingested by the pigs after they had been passed out in the feces.
1965 L. G. Ingles Mammals of Pacific States ix. 156 The mountain beaver is known to reingest the fecal pellets formed in the caecum.
2008 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 10 July (Features section) 53 The fat rabbit cannot reach his bottom to swallow the first soft pellet he passes, which is supposed to be re-ingested so that secondary digestion can take place.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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