cumbrous, a.
(ˈkʌmbrəs)
Forms: 4–7 cumberous, (8 cumb'rous), 4 Sc. cumrouss, 5 comberus, -ose, comborous, comerus, comorows, cumbrusse, 5–6 comerous, 5–7 comberous, combrous, 6 commerous(e, cummerouse, coumbreous, 5– cumbrous.
[f. cumber n. + -ous: cf. obs. F. combreux (Palsgr.).]
† 1. Presenting obstruction; difficult of passage or access; = cumbersome 1. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 25 Ane montane..So cumrouss, and eke so stay, That it wes hard to pas that way. 1495 Will of Shaa (Somerset Ho.), Noyous & comberus high weyes. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. To Rdr., The way muste needes be comberous, wher none hathe gone before. 1600 Holland Livy xxi. xxv. 407 The rough, comberous, and unpassable forests [saltu invio atque impedito]. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iv, Among the combrous brakes. 1861 Lytton & Fane Tannhäuser 107 Now o'er the cumbrous hills began to creep A thin and watery light. |
† 2. Causing trouble, distress, or annoyance; full of trouble or care; troublesome; harassing; wearisome, oppressive; = cumbersome 2. Obs.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxvii. 272 Many oþer marueyles ben þere, þat it were to combrous and to long to putten it in scripture of bokes. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 134 A dysshese she had ful comerous. 1590 Recorde, etc. Gr. Artes 291, I shall have a cumbrous worke to do. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 23 A cloud of cumbrous gnattes doe him molest. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 549 How I may be quit, Fairest and easiest, of this cumbrous charge. |
3. Troublesome from bulk or heaviness; burdensome, unwieldy, clumsy; = cumbersome 3.
| a 1400 Pistel of Susan 224 Vr copus weore cumberous, and cundelet vs care. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 610 The other [ordenaunce] that were heuy & cumbrusse, he lefte behynde hym. 1555 Eden Decades 361 Certeyne lyttle clockes..the whiche..are not comberous to be caryed abowt. 1718 Pope Iliad v. 314, I hate the cumbrous chariot's slow advance. 1813 Scott Rokeby v. iv, Armour..Cumbrous of size, uncouth to sight. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 144 A currency 15½ times as heavy and cumbrous. |
b. fig.
| 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 179 ¶11 Throwing off those cumbrous ornaments of learning. 1835 Arnold Let. in Stanley Life & Corr. (1844) I. vii. 424 To correct the style where it is cumbrous or incorrect. 1877 Geikie Christ lii. (1879) 624 The cumbrous machinery of rite and ceremony. |