clumse
/ˈklʌms/
clumse verb: to numb; benumb; stiffen or paralyse with cold or fear.
Verb
clumse (third-person singular simple present clumses, present participle clumsing, simple past and past participle clumsed)
Adjective
clumse (comparative more clumse, superlative most clumse)
Noun
clumse (plural clumses)
Forms of clumse
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | clumses |
| present participle | clumsing |
| past participle | clumsed |
| past | clumsed |
| alternative form | clumpse |
| alternative form | clumps |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more clumse |
| superlative | most clumse |
| Noun | |
| plural | clumses |
Origin of clumse
From Middle English clumsen, clomsen, cloumsen, from Old Norse *klumsa (compare Old Norse klumsa (“lock-jawed”)), whence also dialectal Norwegian klumsa (“to make speechless or benumbed”), dialectal Swedish klumsen (“numb with cold”). Compare related Low German verklamen, Dutch kleumen, verkleumen, German verklomen.
Words formed from clumse
Questions about clumse
- What does clumse mean?
- Clumse means to numb; benumb; stiffen or paralyse with cold or fear.
- What part of speech is clumse?
- Clumse can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce clumse?
- Clumse is pronounced /ˈklʌms/.
- What is the past tense of clumse?
- The past tense of clumse is clumsed.
Words near clumse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clumse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-clumse.wav.
Cite this entry: “clumse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clumse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.