cumber

C3U1M3B3E1R1
UK/ˈkʌmbə/

verb

To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.

Similar
encumberrestrain
OriginMiddle English combren ← Old French encombrer ← Latin cumulus →
RareScrabble 12
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Meanings

cumber1

verbcumber (third-person singular simple present cumbers, present participle cumbering, simple past and past participle cumbered)

present singular third person cumbers · participle present cumbering · participle past cumbered · past cumbered · alternative archaic cumbre

  1. datedtransitiveTo slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.

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

    1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson
    5 more examples

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

    1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

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

    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

    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.

    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

    […] 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.

    1886, Sir Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel. Pub.: Adams & Charles Black, Edinburgh; page 321

    [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.

    1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 290

    Synonyms: encumber

cumber2

nouncumber (uncountable)
  1. obsoleteuncountableTrouble, distress.

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

    1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.XVI
  2. uncountableSomething that encumbers; a hindrance, a burden.

cumber3

nouncumber (plural cumbers)

plural cumbers · alternative 'cumber

  1. abbreviationclippingcolloquialClipping of cucumber.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.

Similar
encumber

More synonyms by meaning

verbrestrict (someone or something) so as to make free movement difficult

Similar
restrainencumber
Broader
restricttrammellimit
Also see
cucumberencumberforworkfoulhamperobstructrestrainslow down

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

cumber · verb

  1. Proto-Celtic*kombereti“to bring together”
  2. Latincumulus
  3. Old Frenchencombrer
  4. Middle Englishcombren
  5. Englishcumber

From Middle English combren, aphetic form of acombren or encombren, borrowed from Old French encombrer, ultimately either from Latin cumulus or Proto-Celtic *kombereti (“to bring together”), from *kom- + *bereti (“to bear”). Cognate with German kümmern (“to take care of”).

More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

cumber · noun

  1. Proto-West Germanic*kumbr“burden, trouble, sorrow”
  2. Old Frenchencombre“a hindrance, difficulty”
  3. Middle Englishkomber
  4. Englishcumber

From Middle English komber, kumbre, cumbre, combre (“distress; destruction”). Used in 14th century Middle English in the very scarcely attested “destruction” sense but not in common use until the 16th century; at first chiefly Scots, where it is also spelled cummer. Further etymology is uncertain, the term is either: * an aphetic form of encomber, encumbir, encumbre (“trouble; misfortune; harm, ruin”), itself from Old French encombre (“a hindrance, difficulty”), see Etymology 1 and French encombrer for further etymology; or, * cognate with Middle High German kumber (German Kummer), Middle Low German kummer, and Dutch kommer with which it strikingly shares the meaning “trouble, distress”, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *kumbr (“burden, trouble, sorrow”); or, * a deverbal from cumber.

More words from Middle English, Old French, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian затруднявам, обременявам
  • затруднявам (zatrudnjavam)to slow down, to hinder, to burden
  • обременявам (obremenjavam)to slow down, to hinder, to burden
Czech blokovat, zablokovat
  • blokovatto slow down, to hinder, to burden
  • zablokovatto slow down, to hinder, to burden
  • zatarasitto slow down, to hinder, to burden
  • ztěžovatto slow down, to hinder, to burden
  • bránitto slow down, to hinder, to burden
  • brzditto slow down, to hinder, to burden
French encombrer
  • encombrerto slow down, to hinder, to burden

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with cumber

numberlumbarslumberumberclumberencumberbib numbercushy numberRichardson numberscumbersubumberZeisel number
All rhymes →

Anagrams

recumb
Cite this entry
APA

cumber. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cumber

MLA

“cumber.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cumber. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cumber,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cumber.

Source: cumber on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.