Meanings
plural cumberworlds · alternative cumber-world
- derogatoryobsoleteSomeone who, or something which, is an encumbrance on the world; a useless person or thing.
A cumber-world, yet in the world am left, / A fruitles plot, with brambles ouergrowne, / Miſliued man of my vvorlds ioy bereft, / Hart-breaking cares the ofspring of my mone.
1593, Michael Drayton, “The Second Eglog”, in Idea the Shepheards Garland, […], London: […] [T. Orwin] for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC, page 61 more example
His pouch was now all void and empty, his future years were like to be sour, thoughty, and woe-begone, and himself a cumberworld, unsicker of his scarce and slender livelihood in lickpenny London, forced to beg, steal, or starve, and gaping after honest death.
1894, James Hamilton Wylie, History of England under Henry the Fourth, volume 2, pages 22–23Synonyms: cumberground
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSomeone who, or something which, is an encumbrance on the world; a useless person or thing.
Origin
- Middle Englishcombre-world
- Englishcumberworld
From Middle English combre-world, combreworldes pl, from the phrase *combren the world; equivalent to cumber + world.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cumberworld. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cumberworld
“cumberworld.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cumberworld. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cumberworld,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cumberworld.
Source: cumberworld on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.