Search the Dictionary

Laden with that which is weighty; encumbered; burdened; bowed down, either with an actual burden, or with care, grief, pain, disappointment. The heavy [sorrowing] nobles all in council were. Chapman. A light wife doth make a heavy husband. Shak.

See Encumber.

See Encumber.

Not encumbered; unembarrassed; clear of impediments; hence, active; nimble; swift. Unmarried men are best friends, best masters . . . but not always best subjects, for they are light to run away. Bacon.

Covered or encumbered with litter; consisting of or constituting litter.

To fill or encumber with lumber; as, to lumber up a room.

To load with a pack; hence, to load; to encumber; as, to pack a horse. Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey. Shack.

Inclined to pester. Also, vexatious; encumbering; burdensome. [Obs.] Bacon.

Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair. Our troops beat an army in plain fight. Felton.

To free; to clear; to disencumber; -- followed by of. "Rid all the sea of pirates." Shak. In never ridded myself of an overmastering and brooding sense of some great calamity traveling toward me. De Quincey.

Hence: To fix as a charge or burden upon; to load; to encumber; as, to saddle a town with the expense of bridges and highways.

ars, etc., of a ship. [Written also top hamper.] All the ships of the fleet . . . were so encumbered with tophamper, so overweighted in proportion to their draught of water, that they could bear but little canvas, even with smooth seas and light and favorable winds. Motley.

To hold back by a trash or leash, as a dog in pursuing game; hence, to retard, encumber, or restrain; to clog; to hinder vexatiously. [R.] Beau. & Fl.

To disencumber of a clog, or of difficulties and obstructions; to free from encumbrances; to set at liberty. Shak.