lumbering

Other forms: lumberingly; lumberings

Someone who's lumbering moves in a heavy, ungainly way. The big, lumbering players on a football team tend to play defensive positions like lineman.

You might normally skip lightly down the street, but when you're carrying two big suitcases and wearing a heavy backpack, you'll be a lumbering figure slowly making your way along the sidewalk. Your toy poodle might move easily, while your giant 150-pound Mastiff is a lumbering, drooling companion. This adjective comes from the verb lumber, from the earlier lomere, which has a Scandinavian root.

Definitions of lumbering

1. adjective

   slow and laborious because of weight
   “moved with a lumbering sag-bellied trot”

   synonyms: heavy, ponderous

   heavy-footed

   (of movement) lacking ease or lightness
2. noun

   the trade of cutting or preparing or selling timber
   type of:

   craft, trade

   the skilled practice of a practical occupation