lumbering
part of speech
adjective (lumbering); also verb form of «lumber» (lumber, lumbers, lumbered, lumbering); noun (lumbering, the work of cutting timber – North America)
meaning for a pupil
1) Moving slowly and heavily, in a clumsy way, like an elephant or a big tired bear. tree →
2) (verb, -ing form) Walking or moving in a heavy, clumsy way: «the bear was lumbering along». tree →
3) (North America) The work of cutting down trees and preparing wood (lumber) to sell. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories «lumbering» paints a picture of size and heaviness: giants, trolls, dinosaurs, bears or old buses are lumbering. It tells the reader the creature is big and slow, maybe not very nimble. In history of Canada and the USA, lumbering was a big industry. Phrases: «a lumbering giant», «lumbering along», «lumbering towards us».
examples
- A lumbering giant stepped out of the forest. tree →
- The old bus came lumbering up the hill. tree →
- The bear was lumbering across the meadow. tree →
- Dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus were huge, lumbering animals. tree →
- The lumbering tractor held up all the traffic. tree →
- My big dog came lumbering in, covered in mud. tree →
- Lumbering was the main job in many Canadian towns in the 1800s. tree →
- The robot moved with a lumbering, clanking walk. tree →
- "Tan-ta-ra-ra, tan-ta-ra-ra," sounded the horn, and the mail-coach came lumbering up. tree →
note
From the verb «lumber» (to move heavily). In the UK, «lumbered with» means stuck with a job nobody wants: «I got lumbered with the washing-up». Do not confuse with «lumber» in North America = sawn wood (UK «timber»). Not a maths word.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «lumbering» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.