uncumber

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ cumber.

Verb

uncumber (third-person singular simple present uncumbers, present participle uncumbering, simple past and past participle uncumbered)

1. (rare) To disencumber.
   • 1856, Robert Southey, John Wood Warter, Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, page 44:

     ... St. Wilgeforte (famous for praying for a beard to protect her virtue, and getting one as long as the Persian king's) obtained the name of St. Uncumber in England because, for a peck of oats, she would uncumber any woman who was tired of her husband;...

   • 1966, Alison Macleod, The heretic: a novel, page 158:

     "But we call her Saint Uncumber," Mrs. Nicholson explained, "because, if you've got a bad husband, she uncumbers you."

   • 1980, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology, The Food and Drug Administration's Process for Approving New Drugs, page 64:

     The subcommittee concludes FDA should become less involved in the early stages of clinical research by streamlining and uncumbering its regulations governing them.

   • 1987, Christin Lore Weber, Womanchrist: A New Vision of Feminist Spirituality, page 35:

     It is our regard for the body that uncumbers us.