Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EN-CUM'BRANCE, n.

1. A load; any thing that impedes motion, or renders it difficult and laborious; clog; impediment.
2. Useless addition or load. Strip from the branching Alps their piny load, / The huge encumbrance of horrific wood. Thomson.
3. Load or burden on an estate; a legal claim on an estate, for the discharge of which the estate is liable.