- 1
To encumber someone or something is to load them down so that moving or acting becomes hard. A walker encumbered with bags cannot go fast. Extra rules can encumber a plan. It is a formal, slightly old-fashioned word; in speech people more often say weigh down, hold back, or get in the way. There is also a legal use: land or a house can be encumbered if someone else has a claim on it — a bank loan on the house, for example — so you cannot sell it freely until that claim is cleared. Though actually, the everyday picture is physical or practical heaviness, and the legal picture is a paper heaviness. Same shape of idea: you cannot move freely because something is attached.
拖累；使行動困難；妨礙（法律：設定負擔）
組成From Middle English encombren, from Old French encombrer, from en- + combrer (“to hinder”). By the look of the English word: en- + cumber. Cumber is an old verb meaning to get in the way.
同家族的字
- encumbrancethe noun: the load or claim that encumbers
- cumbersomesame old cumber (hinder); cumbersome means awkward to handle because of bulk
- unencumberedthe opposite: free of that load or claim
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
encumberverb/ɪnˈkʌmbə(ɹ)/
- 1
To load down something with a burden.
- In the reverse direction, creature comforts were not closely studied, and the vessel left Antwerp at 1 p.m., to arrive in Harwich at the awkward hour of 2 a.m. The boat train was waiting for the weary stream of passengers, who straggled up George Street, encumbered with luggage, or following burdened porters in the darkness.
- 2
To restrict or block something with a hindrance or impediment.
- He [Timothy Forsyte] had never committed the imprudence of marrying or encumbering himself in any way with children.
- 3
To burden with a legal claim or other obligation.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。