cumbersome, a.
(ˈkʌmbəsəm)
[f. cumber v. + -some.]
† 1. Of places or ways: Obstructing and impeding motion or progress; full of obstruction; troublesome to pass or get through. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 351 Bannokburne, that sa cummyrsum was Of slyk, and depnes for till pas. 1555 Fardle Facions ii. xi. 246 Pioners..to make the waye, wher the place is combresome. 1563 Golding Cæsar (1565) 120 The Britons call it a Towne, when thei have fortified a combersome wood with a dich, and a rampyre. 1681 Cotton Wonders of Peake 55 Though the way be cumbersom, and rough. |
† 2. Causing trouble, annoyance, or inconvenience; full of trouble; troublesome; wearisome, oppressive.
Obs. exc. dial.| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 105 Thair names..So cummersum tha ar to put in verss. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 19 A cumbersome Landlord is husbandmans rod. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. x. 111 Cumbersome days..slow, dull and heavy times. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 99 A Portch proves often cumbersome, being the receptacle of foul creatures. 1876 Holland Sev. Oaks xii. 167 ‘It would be sort o cumbersome to tell her.’ 1862 A. Hislop Prov. Scot. 38 Better unkind than ower cumbersome. |
3. Of material objects: Troublesome from bulk or heaviness; unwieldy, clumsy.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. vi. Pref. (ed. 7) 596 The Globe is combersome and not portable. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 390 This tree..is not so combersome as to keepe away the Sunne and the wind. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 400 That cumbersome Luggage of war. 1716 Addison Drummer ii. i, Help me off with this cumbersome Cloak. 1849 E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa II. 2 At last..the cumbersome waggons gradually got under weigh. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xv, The cumbersome old table with twisted legs. |
| fig. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. To Rdr. 17 A vast heap of humane Inventions, useless and cumbersome Ceremonies. 1768 Beattie Minstr. ii. lix, With cumbersome, tho' pompous show. 1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. ii. (1875) 43 Very cumbersome mode of assisting the memory. |
Hence
ˈcumbersomely adv.; also
ˈcumbersomeness.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lxxiv. 16 Although they be troubled through the combersomnes of men. 1611 Cotgr., Molestément, troublesomely, offensively, combersomely. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iii. Digr. §9 (Contents) Human art acts upon the matter without, cumbersomely or moliminously. 1785 Roy in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 430 The cumbersomeness of its weight appeared..objectionable. 1880 Scribn. Mag. Feb. 504 The log fence..belonged to the same period of plentifulness, even cumbersomeness, of timber. |