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.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of cumber English)
Usage examples of "cumbering".
Those unseemly log-heaps, cumbering no inconsiderable portion of the field, must be disposed of, to complete the work.
All these are unpleasant sensations, and I sweep them out of my mind as quickly as I possibly can, not from any exalted motives, but simply as useless, cumbering lumber, for which I decline to use my brain at a storehouse.
For the HallSun hath had us at work cumbering it against the foe with great trees felled with limbs, branches, and all.
What's more, they will reproach you for cumbering the place, for being so long over dying.
He urged me to prac tice "dreaming" without letting my fears make it into an en cumbering production.
He would still see himself cumbering the ground, when his powers were taken, from him.