cumber

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌmbə/

  • Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -ʌmbə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English combren, borrowed from the second element of Old French encombrer, ultimately from 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.
   • 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)

Synonyms

• encumber

Derived terms

• cumberground
• cumbersome
• cumberworld
• cumbrous

Related terms

• encumber
• encumbrance

Translations

to slow down, to hinder, to burden

• Bulgarian: затруднявам (bg) (zatrudnjavam), обременявам (bg) (obremenjavam)
• French: encombrer (fr)

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.

See also

• Thesaurus:hinder

Etymology 2

Noun

cumber (plural cumbers)

1. (colloquial) Clipping of cucumber.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “cumber”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• cumbre, recumb