Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1819-1828, 1884-1896
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†CUMMER, CUMBER, n.1, v.1
1. n. Used as Eng. cumber in sense of encumbrance, hindrance. The following usages are peculiar to Sc.
(1) The action of troubling, disturbing or embarrassing: used (with possessive pron.) of the agent.Sc. 1828 Scott F. M. Perth xvi.:
Besides all this, the Douglas has left Perth. . . . So the Fair City is quit of him and his cumber.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry 202:
Never was sakeless dask o' timmer Sae persecute and put to cummer.
(2) Quarrelling.Kcb. 1896 S. R. Crockett Grey Man xxiv.:
I will go to the length of my tether in eschewing all cummer and bickering, so far as I may.
¶(3) In phr. to be in cummer-room, to be in the position of an intruder, an encumbrance.Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St Patrick III. viii.:
An ye think I'm in cummer-room I'll no bode mysel' tae bide.
2. v. To benumb. Found only in ppl.adj. cumbered, cummer'd, benumbed (w.Lth. 1825 Jam.2; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 154, cummer'd). Obs. in Eng. since 15th cent. (N.E.D.).Lnk. 1884 J. Nicholson Willie Waugh 37:
Yer cumert han's at my bit ingle beek.
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"Cummer n.1, v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/cummer_n1_v1>
