[f. QUID sb.3]
1. intr. To chew tobacco; to chew the cud.
1775. in Ash.
1778. Gentl. Mag., July, 311/1. The cow chews her cud, and the man, when he chews tobacco, calls it quidding.
1893. Surrey Gloss., Quidding, chewing the cud. ‘The heifer’s getting better, she’s quidding all right.’
2. trans. Of horses: To let (food) drop from the mouth when half chewed.
1831. Youatt, Horse (1847), 258. The Horse quids his hay, and gulps his water.
1888. W. Williams, Princ. Vet. Med. (ed. 5), 376. Soreness of the throat is indicated by ‘quidding of the food.’
Hence Quidder, a horse that ‘quids’ (Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., 1886).
