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Webster 1913 Edition
Cumber
Cum′ber
(k?m′b?r)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Cumbered
(-b?rd)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Cumbering
.] [OE.
combren
, cumbren
,OF. combrer
to hinder, from LL. cumbrus
a heap, fr. L. cumulus
; cf. Skr. [GREEK][GREEK]
to increase, grow strong. Cf. Cumulate
.] To rest upon as a troublesome or useless weight or load; to be burdensome or oppressive to; to hinder or embarrass in attaining an object, to obstruct or occupy uselessly; to embarrass; to trouble.
Why asks he what avails him not in fight,
And would but
And would but
cumber
and retard his flight? Dryden.
Martha was
cumbered
about much serving. Luke x. 40.
Cut it down; why
cumbereth
it the ground? Luke xiii. 7.
The multiplying variety of arguments, especially frivolous ones, . . . but
cumbers
the memory. Locke.
Cum′ber
(k?m′b?r)
, Noun.
[Cf. ]
encombre
hindrance, impediment. See Cuber,Verb.
Trouble; embarrassment; distress.
[Obs.]
[Written also
comber
.] A place of much distraction and
cumber
. Sir H. Wotton.
Sage counsel in
cumber
. Sir W. Scott.
Webster 1828 Edition
Cumber
CUMBER
,Verb.
T.
1.
To load; to crowd.A variety of frivolous arguments cumbers the memory to no purpose.
2.
To check, stop or retard, as by a load or weight; to make motion difficult; to obstruct.Why asks he what avails him not in fight, and would but cumber and retard his flight.
3.
To perplex or embarrass; to distract or trouble.Martha was cumbered about much serving. Luke 10.
4.
To trouble; to be troublesome to; to cause trouble or obstruction in, as any thing useless. Thus, brambles cumber a garden or field. [See Encumber, which is more generally used.]CUMBER
,Noun.
Thus fade thy helps, and thus thy cumbers spring. [This word is now scarcely used.]
Definition 2024
cumber
cumber
English
Alternative forms
- cumbre (archaic)
Verb
cumber (third-person singular simple present cumbers, present participle cumbering, simple past and past participle cumbered)
- (transitive, dated) To slow down; to hinder; to burden.
- Dryden
- Why asks he what avails him not in fight, / And would but cumber and retard his flight?
- John Locke
- The multiplying variety of arguments, especially frivolous ones, […] but cumbers the memory.
- 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.
-
1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson:
- Why had he not killed himself long ago? Why cumbered he the earth?
- Dryden
Synonyms
See also
- Wikisaurus:hinder
Related terms
Translations
to slow down, to hinder, to burden
References
- “cumber” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).