Crossword clues for cumber
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cumber \Cum"ber\ (k?m"b?r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cumbered (-b?rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Cumbering.] [OE. combren, cumbren,OF. combrer to hinder, from LL. cumbrus a heap, fr. L. cumulus; cf. Skr. ?? to increase, grow strong. Cf. Cumulate.] To rest upon as a troublesome or useless weight or load; to be burdensome or oppressive to; to hinder or embarrass in attaining an object, to obstruct or occupy uselessly; to embarrass; to trouble.
Why asks he what avails him not in fight,
And would but cumber and retard his flight?
--Dryden.
Martha was cumbered about much serving.
--Luke x. 40.
Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? -- Luke xiii. 7.
The multiplying variety of arguments, especially
frivolous ones, . . . but cumbers the memory.
--Locke.
Cumber \Cum"ber\ (k?m"b?r), n. [Cf. encombre hindrance, impediment. See Cuber,v.] Trouble; embarrassment; distress. [Obs.] [Written also comber.]
A place of much distraction and cumber. -- Sir H. Wotton.
Sage counsel in cumber.
--Sir W.
Scott.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, "to overthrow, destroy; to be overwhelmed; to harass," apparently from French, but Old French combrer "to seize hold of, lay hands on, grab, snatch, take by force, rape," has not quite the same sense. Perhaps a shortened formation from a verb akin to Middle English acombren "obstructing progress," from Old French encombrer, from combre "obstruction, barrier," from Vulgar Latin *comboros "that which is carried together," perhaps from a Gaulish word.\n
\nThe likely roots are PIE *kom (see com-) + *bher- (1) "to bear" (see infer). Weakened sense of "to hamper, to obstruct or weigh down" is late 14c. Related: Cumbered; cumbering.
Wiktionary
vb. (context transitive dated English) To slow down, to hinder, to burden.
WordNet
Usage examples of "cumber".
Theo and Cumber, gave a little snort, then picked up her tiny bowl of dandelion wine and had another drink.
He turned back to Theo and Cumber Sedge as his friends at the bar shouted what sounded like genial insults at the out-of-towner.
He tugged Theo toward the front of the restaurant with Applecore buzzing along beside their heads and Cumber Sedge hurrying along after.
Zirus skipped off toward a long limousine that was idling in a little parking lot just beside the gate, Theo slowed down until Cumber Sedge caught up with him.
Theo got Cumber sitting upright and Applecore fanned his face with her wings until he seemed a bit more himself.
Applecore buzzed back in, followed a few moments later by a waitress, who took one look at Theo and Cumber Sedge and went to take orders at the other table first.
If Cumber went to jail, Theo had a feeling he might wind up there as well.
He had felt sure that the book was the reason he had been dragged out of his own world, but so far no one had asked to see it or even asked him about it, even though he had mentioned it to Lady Aemilia and Cumber Sedge, just to name two people here in Daffodil House.
Theo had almost entirely forgotten what Cumber had told him the night before, but it was coming back.
He bent and got hold of Cumber Sedge as best he could, draping him awkwardly over his shoulder, then ran, his heart swelling in his chest until he thought his ribs would explode outward.
The floor convulsed beneath their feet and Theo pitched over, Cumber falling awkwardly beneath him.
Theo dragged Cumber up and hurried him toward the only place that he knew for certain led up and out to safety.
For a long time he lay gasping, watching sparks drift past as he slid in and out of a fractured near-sleep while Cumber sat beside him, mumbling to himself and moaning.
Theo crawled across the ground and tackled the dead thing, which pulled Cumber down as well.
He kicked it again and again until it had to let go of Cumber to protect itself, curling like a silent, stinking spider, but even after the ferisher was free Theo kept kicking it in a screaming fury of horror and disgust, kicking the torso into broken meat and fragmented bone, until Cumber Sedge yanked him away.