cumber
[verb]
Synonyms: burden, charge, clog, encumber, lade, load, lumber, saddle, task, tax

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

cumber noun. ['kʌmbǝ] ME.
[from the verb or aphet. from ENCUMBER noun.]
1. Overthrow, destruction, rout. Only in ME.

2. A thing which cumbers, an encumbrance; a hindrance, an obstruction; a burden (lit. & fig.). LME.
■ A. Uttley Hay chambers..with their cumber of past days..parts of spinning-wheels, giant presses, cheese-stones.

3. Trouble, distress; embarrassment, inconvenience. Now arch. rare. E16.

4. The action or quality of encumbering; the fact of being encumbered; hindrance, obstruction. M16.
■ J. Ruskin Of other prefatory matter..the reader shall be spared the cumber.

5. Pressure of business; in pl. affairs that occupy and trouble one. Now rare or obsolete. M17.

■ cumberless adjective M16.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲

cumber verb trans. ['kʌmbǝ] ME.
[Prob. aphet. from ACCUMBER, ENCUMBER verb.]
1. Overwhelm, overthrow, destroy. ME-L16.

2. Benumb; stiffen with cold. Chiefly as cumbered ppl adjective. obsolete exc. Scot. ME.

3. Incommode, bother. Formerly also, harass, distress, trouble. ME.
Bible (AV): Luke 10:40 But Martha was cumbred about much seruing.

4. Perplex, puzzle. LME-E17.

5. Hamper, hinder; get or be in the way of (a person, a person's movement, etc.). LME.
■ Browning Body shall cumber Soul-flight no more.
■ C. S. Forester They were cumbered with greatcoats and swords.

6. Occupy obstructively or inconveniently; burden, load. LME.
■ G. A. Birmingham Out-of-date theological books..were cumbering my over-full shelves. fig.:
■ D. Cecil Cumbered with the permanent care of a mentally afflicted sister.

Comb.:
cumber-ground arch. a person who or thing which uselessly occupies the ground; an unprofitable occupant of a position.

■ cumberer noun a person who or thing which cumbers LME.

■ cumberment noun (a) the state of being cumbered; (b) (now rare or obsolete) an encumbrance: ME.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲