Contemplated strong drink at home before arranged date (9)
I believe the answer is:
ruminated
'contemplated' is the definition.
('ruminate' can be a synonym of 'contemplate')
'strong drink at home before arranged date' is the wordplay.
'strong drink' becomes 'rum' (rum is a kind of strong drink).
'at home' becomes 'in' ('in' can be similar in meaning to 'at home').
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'arranged' indicates anagramming the letters.
'date' anagrammed gives 'ated'.
'rum'+'in'+'ated'='RUMINATED'
(Another definition for ruminated that I've seen is " Pondered".)