Forms: 3– cumber; also 3–7 comber, 4–5 combur, comer, 4–6 combre, cumbre, Sc. cummer, 5 combir, cumbir, cumbyre, cummere, comyr, Sc. cummyr (pa. t. cumryt). [Cumber vb. is known from c. 1300. Its early derivatives cumberment, cumbrance, cumbrous (14th c. at least) all suppose for it a French derivation: cf. the parallel series under ENCUMBER, and its weakened form ACCUMBER, also OF. encombrer, -ment, encombrance, encombros, -eus.
Except in one doubtful instance, Godefroy cites OF. combrer only in the sense of covrer ‘to lay hold of, seize, take,’ which does not account for the ME. uses of cumber. He has no examples of combrance, combrement, and only one (16th c.) example of combreux. Hence it would be more satisfactory to regard the English words as aphetic forms of the encumber, acumber types, but for their appearing earlier than these. The etymological history being unsettled, the order of the senses, and the precise meaning in many cases, is doubtful.]
† 1. trans. To overwhelm, overthrow, rout, destroy. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7465. Seuene maner synnes … Þe whych cumbren men on many folde. Ibid. (c. 1330), Chron. (Rolls), 12356. Arthur bar on hym wyþ his launce To combren hym, als of chaunce. Ibid., 15474. Cadwan seide he wolde passe Humber, Elfrik to struye & to comber.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 901. Cayre tid of þis kythe er combred þou worthe.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VI. 429. [Douglas] cummerit thaim sua, That weill nane eschapit.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1471. Alexander is at hand, and will vs all cumbre.
15[?]. Lord of Learne, 416, in Furniv., Percy Folio, I. 197. They … cutten all his ioynts in sunder, & burnte him eke vpon a hyll; I-wis thé did him curstlye cumber.
† b. pass. To be overwhelmed and held fast, as in a slough. Obs. (Cf. Chaucer C. T. Prol. 508 ‘acombred [v.r. encombred] in the myre.’)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 26514 (Cott.). If þou comberd be in sin.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 170. Þei beoþ cumbred in care and cunnen not out-crepe.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxvi. 171. Þou arte combered in curstnesse.
1460. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 84. Þer was she combred yn a carefulle case.
† c. intr. (for refl.) in same sense. Obs.
a. 1400[?]. Chester Pl., i. 219. I comber, I canker, I kindle in care, I sinke in sorrow.
† 2. To harass, distress, trouble. Obs. (exc. with mixture of sense 4: to incommode, bother).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8018 (Cott.). Es nathing þat mai him cumber.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxiv. 211. Ther quenes vs comeres with þer clakke.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings xxi. 5. What is ye matter, that thy sprete is so combred?
1611. Bible, Luke x. 40. Martha was cumbred about much seruing.
1666. Collins, in Rigaud, Corr. Sci. Men (1841), II. 462. To cumber you with some later thoughts of my own.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xv. I cumber you no longer with my presence.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxvii. I disgrace nobody and cumber nobody.
† b. To confound or trouble the mind or senses: to perplex, puzzle. Obs.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 4047. Þe king in þat carful þouȝt was cumbred ful long.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xvii. (Tollem. MS.). Yf þe þinge þat is sen meueþ to swyftely þe syȝte is combrid.
1535. Coverdale, Acts x. 17. Whyle Peter was combred in him selfe what maner of vision this shulde be.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, VI. 2871. To bring ’t about it my conceit doth cumber.
3. To hamper, embarrass, hinder, get or be in the way of (persons, their movements, etc.).
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VI. 141. Bot his hors, that wes born doune, Cummerit thaim the vpgang to ta.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 229. The press was thik, and cummerit thaim full fast.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme, Hist. Brit. (1811), 249. Every Frencheman combryd other.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, II. viii. 38. Their arming … combers their foot, then whom the Moors will be much the swifter.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 344. To comber, or incomber and entangle one.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 4. Body shall cumber Soul-flight no more.
4. To occupy obstructively, or inconveniently; to block up or fill with what hinders freedom of motion or action; to burden, load.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 765. Comeren her stomakes wiþ curious drynkes.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 1332. Thou combrest the hous here.
1534. Tindale, Luke xiii. 7. Cut it doune: why combreth it the grounde?
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, IV. 128. Our ship … being so cumbred with the Passengers prouisions.
1707. Funnell, Voy. (1729), 22. The Captain alledging, that he would not cumber up his Ship.
1874. S. Cox, Pilgr. Ps., v. 108. Streets cumbered with charred embers.
1885. Law Times, LXXIX. 153/1. The unwieldy mass of case-law which now cumbers every practitioner’s shelves.
5. fig. (of prec. senses).
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11774. To be cumbrid with couetous.
1493. Festyvall (W. de W., 1515), 116 b. The people were so combred with the synne of mawmetry.
1577. Test. 12 Patriarchs (1604), 101. When the mind is cumbred with disdain, the Lord departeth from it.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 487. How can any such thought … comber your braines, as to beleve you shalbe able … so to bewitch the Queenes highnesse?
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 142. Much authority is cumbered with many cares.
1676. Ray, Corr. (1848), 123. Which I thought not fit to cumber the book with.
1813. Scott, Trierm., II. x. Cares, that cumber royal sway.
1864. Bowen, Logic, v. 133. [It] would … cumber and lengthen the sentence unnecessarily.
† 6. To benumb, stiffen with cold, etc. Obs. Cf. CUMBLE v.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 129. His sergant that cumbered was Wit parlesi.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xxi. (1495), 68. As whan the fyngres ben combred and croked for grete colde.
1483. [see CUMBERED 1].
1825–79. Jamieson, Cumber, adj., benumbed. In this sense the hands are said to be cumber’d, West Loth.
† 7. pa. pple. Of a hawk: Constipated. Obs. (= ENCUMBER 7.)
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C iv b. A medecine for an hauke combred in the bowillis.
8. Comb., as † cumber-field, a name for the Common Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare), a troublesome weed in cornfields (in Bulleyn, Book of Simples (1562) lf. 32); † cumber-house, one that cumbers or inconveniently occupies a house. Also CUMBER-GROUND, -WORLD.
1540. Elyot, Image Gou. (1556), 94 b. Semblablie shall I be unto hir an unpleasaunte cumbrehouse.
