excogitate

excogitate
    v 1: come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or
         principle) after a mental effort; "excogitate a way to
         measure the speed of light" [syn: {invent}, {contrive},
         {devise}, {excogitate}, {formulate}, {forge}]
    2: reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the
       afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of
       God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to
       observe and start to excogitate" [syn: {chew over}, {think
       over}, {meditate}, {ponder}, {excogitate}, {contemplate},
       {muse}, {reflect}, {mull}, {mull over}, {ruminate},
       {speculate}]
    

Excogitate \Ex*cog"i*tate\, v. i.
   To cogitate. [R.] --Bacon.
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Excogitate \Ex*cog"i*tate\v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Excogitated}; p.
   pr. & vb. n.. {Excogitating}.] [L. excogitatus, p. p. of
   excogitare to excogitate; ex out + cogitare to think. See
   {Cogitate}.]
   To think out; to find out or discover by thinking; to devise;
   to contrive. "Excogitate strange arts." --Stirling.
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         This evidence . . . thus excogitated out of the general
         theory.                                  --Whewell.
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21 Moby Thesaurus words for "excogitate":
      cogitate, contemplate, contrive, develop, educe, evolve,
      give thought to, invent, mind, perpend, ponder, puzzle out,
      reason out, sort out, study, think about, think out, think over,
      think through, think up, weigh