ponder

From Middle English ponderen, from Old French ponderer (“to weigh, balance, ponder”) from Latin ponderare (“to weigh, ponder”), from pondus (“weight”), from pendere (“to weigh”); see pendent and pound.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒn.də(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑn.dɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒndə(ɹ)

ponder (third-person singular simple present ponders, present participle pondering, simple past and past participle pondered)

1. To wonder, think of deeply.
2. To consider (something) carefully and thoroughly.

   Synonyms: chew over, mull over; see also Thesaurus:ponder

   I have spent days pondering the meaning of life.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Proverbs 4:26:

     Ponder the path of thy feet.

3. (obsolete) To weigh.

ponder (plural ponders)

1. (colloquial) A period of deep thought.

   I lit my pipe and had a ponder about it, but reached no definite conclusion.

• “ponder”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ponder”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Penrod, podner, proned

From Middle English ponderen, from Old French ponderer (“to weigh, balance, ponder”) from Latin ponderare (“to weigh, ponder”), from pondus (“weight”), from pendere (“to weigh”).

ponder (plural ponders)

1. (glassblowing, obsolete) A fourteenth-century unit of glass.