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th something superfluous; to weigh down; to obstruct or embarrass; as, his movements were encumbered by his mantle; his mind is encumbered with useless learning. Not encumbered with any notable inconvenience. Hooker.

Encumbrance. [R.]

rance, or from anything which clogs, impedes, or obstructs; to disburden. Owen. I have disencumbered myself from rhyme. Dryden.

To free from incumbrance; to disencumber.

To encumber. [Obs.] Chaucer.

ty about them. Porteus. O, how unlike the complex works of man, Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan! Cowper.

To drag through, encumber with, or fix in, the mire; to soil by passing through mud or dirt. Bemired and benighted in the dog. Burke.

To soil or encumber with mire and dirt. [Obs.] Shak.

To encumber with weight (literal or figurative); to lay a heavy load upon; to load. I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened. 2 Cor. viii. 13.

To encumber or load, especially with something that impedes motion; to hamper. The winds of birds were clogged with ace and snow. Dryden.

A small, inclosed field, adjoining a house; a small farm. A few small crofts of stone-encumbered ground. Wordsworth.

To fill by pressing or thronging together; hence, to encumber by excess of numbers or quantity. The balconies and verandas were crowded with spectators, anxious to behold their future sovereign. Prescott.

rid of a burden; to free from a load borne or from something oppressive; to unload; to disencumber; to relieve. He did it to disburden a conscience. Feltham. My mediations . . . will, I hope, be more calm, being thus disburdened. Hammond.

To free from that which cumbers or impedes; to disencumber. [Archaic] Pope.

See Encumber. [Obs.]

That which encumbers; a burden which impedes action, or renders it difficult and laborious; a clog; an impediment. See Incumbrance.

ts as a person may have from time to time, leaving him more or less free to dispose of or encumber them as if no such charge or lien existed.

Exempt; clear; released; liberated; not encumbered or troubled with; as, free from pain; free from a burden; -- followed by from, or, rarely, by of. Princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties. Bp. Burnet.

hackle; to insnare; to inveigle; hence, to impede in motion or progress; to embarrass; to encumber. "Hampered nerves." Blackmore. A lion hampered in a net. L'Estrange. They hamper and entangle our souls. Tillotson.

To encumber with a handicap in any contest; hence, in general, to place at disadvantage; as, the candidate was heavily handicapped.