cumber
Something that encumbersSomething that encumbers; a hindrance, a burden.
Meaning
2 senses(uncountable)Something that encumbers; a hindrance, a burden.
(obsolete, uncountable)Trouble, distress.
Origin
From Middle English komber, kumbre, cumbre, combre (“distress; destruction”). Used in 14thFrom 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:
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Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.