Clumse

//ˈklʌms// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A stupid fellow; numbskull
Verb
  1. 1
    To numb; benumb; stiffen or paralyse with cold or fear transitive
  2. 2
    To be numb or benumbed; be stiffened or paralysed with cold or fear intransitive
  3. 3
    To die of thirst Scotland, dialectal
Adjective
  1. 1
    benumbed, as with cold
  2. 2
    idle; lazy; loutish

Etymology

From Middle English clumsen, clomsen, cloumsen, from Old Norse *klumsa (compare Old Norse klumsa (“lock-jawed”)), whence also dialectal Norwegian klumsa (“to make speechless or benumbed”), dialectal Swedish klumsen (“numb with cold”). Compare related Low German verklamen, Dutch kleumen, verkleumen, German verklomen.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.