Cumber

v. t. [imp. & p. p. CUMBERED; p. pr. & vb. n. CUMBERING.] [See infra.] To hang or rest upon as a troublesome weight; to be burdensome or oppressive to; to load or crowd; to hinder or embarrass in attaining an object; to stand in the way of; to obstruct; to perplex; to embarrass; to trouble.

Doth the bramble cumber the garden? It makes the better hedge. Grew.

The multiplying variety of arguments, especially frivolous, . . . but cumbers the memory. Locke.

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.