cumber
Americanverb (used with object)
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to hinder; hamper.
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to overload; burden.
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to inconvenience; trouble.
noun
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a hindrance.
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something that cumbers.
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Archaic. embarrassment; trouble.
verb
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to obstruct or hinder
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obsolete to inconvenience
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cumber
1250–1300; Middle English cumbre (noun), cumbren (v.), aphetic variant of acumbren to harass, defeat; see encumber
Explanation
To cumber is to make something more difficult or burdensome. Don't cumber yourself by trying to carry all those tote bags through the airport — get a rolling suitcase instead! The old-fashioned verb cumber is rarely used these days, but you still see hints of it in words like cumbersome and unencumbered. It derives from the Old French combre, "obstruction," and its root, meaning "to carry." If you come across this word in an old poem or novel, you'll know it means "to burden." In Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, for example, the character of Meg is described as "cumbered with many cares."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Cumber led a short-handed Lobos team missing two starters with 20 points.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 19, 2023
Lobos Vian Cumber drilled a shot from downtown just before halftime that put UNM up 31-29 heading into the break.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 19, 2023
Then, on the Exposition's fourth day, British Judge William John Cumber stepped into the arena to judge the show's Grand Champion steer.
From Time Magazine Archive
If a new revenue bill should be passed in the next Congress it will be a Green-Smoot, instead of a Fordney-Mc Cumber, bill.
From Time Magazine Archive
Cumber thee not for the world, and this my precept forget not, ’Tis but a toy that a vagabond sweetheart has left us.
From Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám and Salámán and Absál Together With A Life Of Edward Fitzgerald And An Essay On Persian Poetry By Ralph Waldo Emerson by FitzGerald, Edward
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
