cumber
/ˈkʌmbə/
cumber verb: to slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber. Also the clipping of cucumber.
Verb
cumber (third-person singular simple present cumbers, present participle cumbering, simple past and past participle cumbered)
- To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.
- 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
- Synonyms:
- encumber
Noun
cumber (uncountable)
Also used as
cumber is also the clipping of cucumber.
Examples of cumber in a sentence
- […] 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 of cumber
Forms of cumber
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | cumbers |
| present participle | cumbering |
| past participle | cumbered |
| past | cumbered |
| alternative form (archaic) | cumbre |
| Noun | |
| plural | cumbers |
| alternative form | 'cumber |
Origin of cumber
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”).
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.
Words formed from cumber
Phrases with cumber
Words that rhyme with cumber
Questions about cumber
- What does cumber mean?
- Cumber means to slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.
- How do you use cumber in a sentence?
- […] 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.
- What part of speech is cumber?
- Cumber can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce cumber?
- Cumber is pronounced /ˈkʌmbə/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of cumber?
- The past tense of cumber is cumbered.
Words near cumber in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cumber (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cumber.wav.
Cite this entry: “cumber.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cumber. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.