Cumber

/ˈkʌmbə/ · verb

Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive, dated) To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.
2. (obsolete) Trouble, distress.
3. Something that encumbers; a hindrance, a burden.
4. (colloquial) Clipping of cucumber.

Example Sentences

[…] 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.

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

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

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.

[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.

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

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.

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

Synonyms for cumber

Antonyms for cumber

Related Words

Word Forms

• cumbers
• cumbering
• cumbered
• cumbre
• 'cumber

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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