cumber

See also: 'cumber

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌmbə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmbə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English combren, aphetic form of acombren or encombren, borrowed from Old French encombrer, ultimately either from Latin cumulus or Proto-Celtic *kombereti (“to bring together”), from *kom- +‎ *bereti (“to bear”). Cognate with German kümmern (“to take care of”).

Verb

cumber (third-person singular simple present cumbers, present participle cumbering, simple past and past participle cumbered)

1. (transitive, dated) To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.

   Synonyms: encumber, see also Thesaurus:hinder

   • 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Why asks he what avails him not in fight, / And would but cumber and retard his flight?

   • a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:

     The multiplying variety of arguments, especially frivolous ones, […] but cumbers the memory.

   • 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 71:

     Wounded and overthrown, the Britons continued their resistance, clung round the legs of the Norman steeds, and cumbered their advance; while their brethren, thrusting with pikes, proved every joint and crevice of the plate and mail, or grappling with the men-at-arms, strove to pull them from their horses by main force, or beat them down with their bills and Welch hooks.

   • 1886, Sir Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel. Pub.: Adams & Charles Black, Edinburgh; page 321:

     […] the base villain who murdered this poor defenceless old man, when he had not, by the course of nature, a twelvemonth's life in him, shall not cumber the earth long after him.

   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 290:

     [T]hese people, whose name, much as I would like to express my gratitude to them, I may not even give here, nevertheless cumbered themselves with me, sheltered me and protected me from myself.

   • 1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson:

     Why had he not killed himself long ago? Why cumbered he the earth?

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 98:

     Moreover, that distinctive hair of hers was screwed up into a tight plait and she carried a heavy basket on her hip and a weighted bucket of oysters in her other hand, which cumbered the grace of her body and turned her into the dull replica of any other peasant creature.

Alternative forms

• cumbre (archaic)

Derived terms

• cumberer
• cumberground
• cumberless
• cumberment
• cumbersome
• cumberworld
• discumber
• overcumber
• uncumber

Related terms

• encumber
• encumbrance

Translations

to slow down, to hinder, to burden

• Bulgarian: затруднявам (bg) (zatrudnjavam), обременявам (bg) (obremenjavam)
• Czech: blokovat (cs) impf, zablokovat (cs) pf, zatarasit (cs) pf, ztěžovat (cs) impf, bránit (cs) impf, brzdit impf
• French: encombrer (fr)

Etymology 2

From Middle English komber, kumbre, cumbre, combre (“distress; destruction”). Used in 14th century Middle English in the very scarcely attested “destruction” sense but not in common use until the 16th century; at first chiefly Scots, where it is also spelled cummer. Further etymology is uncertain, the term is either:

• an aphetic form of encomber, encumbir, encumbre (“trouble; misfortune; harm, ruin”), itself from Old French encombre (“a hindrance, difficulty”), see Etymology 1 and French encombrer for further etymology; or,
• cognate with Middle High German kumber (German Kummer), Middle Low German kummer, and Dutch kommer with which it strikingly shares the meaning “trouble, distress”, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kumbraz (“burden, trouble, sorrow”); or,
• a deverbal from cumber.

Noun

cumber (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Trouble, distress.
   • 1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.XVI:

     Fleet foot on the correi, / Sage counsel in cumber, / Red hand in the foray, / How sound is thy slumber!

2. Something that encumbers; a hindrance, a burden.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

Derived terms

• cumbrous

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• 'cumber

Noun

cumber (plural cumbers)

2. (colloquial) Clipping of cucumber.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “cumber”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• cumbre, recumb