466 C U L 
mination of a criminal. Blackftone fuppofes the word 
compounded of two abbreviations : cul. for culpable, 
which the clerk declares the prifoner to be ; and prit or 
jrret, (Fr.) for ready to prove him fo. Others again de¬ 
rive it from culpa, in a fault, and prahenfus, taken.] A 
man arraigned before his judge.—An author is in the 
condition of a culprit ; the public are his judges : by al¬ 
lowing too much, and condefcending too far, he may in¬ 
jure his own caufe ; and, by pleading and aflerting too 
boldly, he may difpleafe the court. Prior. 
The knight appear’d, and filence they proclaim; 
'I hen firil the culprit anfwer’d to his name ; 
And, after forms of law, was laft requir’d 
To name the thing that woman mod defir’d. Dryden. 
CULTCH, f The bottom of the fea where oyfters 
fpawn. 
CULTELLA'TION, f. \_not much ufcd.~] The art or 
procefs of meafuring heights and diftances by thofe in- 
ftruments that give the meafure in parts only. AJh. 
CUL'TER,/ [ culter, Lat.] The iron of the plough 
perpendicular to the lhare. It is commonly written foulter : 
Her fallow lee-s 
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory, 
Doth root upon ; while that the culter rulls 
That Ihould deracinate fuch favagery. Shakefpeart. 
To CUL'TIVATE, v. a. \_cultiver,-- Fr.] To forward or 
improve the product of the earth by manual induftry.— 
T hole excellent feeds implanted in your birth, will, if 
cultivated, be mod flourifning in production ; and, as the 
foil is good, and no cod nor care wanting to improve it, 
we mud entertain hopes of the riched harved. Felton .— 
To improve ; to meliorate : 
To make man mild and fociable to man, 
To cultivate the wild licentious favage 
With wifdom, difcipline, and liberal arts, 
Th’ embellilhments of life. Addifon. 
CULTIVA'TJON,yi The art or practice of improv¬ 
ing foils, and forwarding or meliorating vegetables. Im¬ 
provement in general; promotion; melioration.—An in¬ 
nate light difcovers the common notions of good and 
evil, which, by cultivation and improvement, may be ad¬ 
vanced to higher and brighter difcoveries. South. 
CUL'TIVATOR,y~. One who improves, promotes, 
or meliorates ; or endeavours to forward any vegetable 
produCt, or any thing elfe capable of improvement.—It 
has been lately complained of, by fome cultivators of clo- 
ver-grafs, that from a great quantity of the feed not any 
grabs fprings up. Boyle. 
CUL'TURE, yi \_cultura, Lat.] The aCt of cultiva¬ 
tion ; the aCt of tilling the ground ; tillage.—Give us 
feed unto our heart, and culture to our underdanding, 
that there may come fruit of it. 2 EJdras, viii. 6.—The 
plough was not invented till after the deluge ; the earth 
requiring little or no care or culture, but yielding its in- 
creafe freely, and without labour and toil. Woodward. 
Where grows it not ? If vain our toil. 
We ought to blame the culture, not the foil. 
Fix’d to no fpot, is happinefs lincere. Pope. 
Art of improvement and melioration.—One might wear 
any pafiion out of a family by culture, as fkilful gardeners 
blot a colour out of a tulip that hurts its beauty. Tatler. 
To CUL'TURE, v. a. To cultivate; to manure ; to 
till. It is ufed by Thomfon, but without authority. 
CUL'VER ,_/1 [columha, Lat. culppie, Sax.] A pigeon. 
An old word: 
Had he lo done, he had him fnatch’d away, 
More light than culver in the faulcon’s fid. Spenfer. 
Whence, borne on liquid wing, 
The founding culver (hoots. Thomfon. 
CUL'VERAGE,y. [culver,Lat.~) Timidity; cowardice. 
CUL'VER'IN, f. [colouvrine, F r. ] A fpecies of ord¬ 
nance, now out of ule ; originally a hawk,—A whole 
C U M 
cannon requires, for every charge, forty pounds of pow» 
der, and a bullet of fixty-four uour.ds ; a culverin , fixteerx 
pounds of powder, and a bullet of nineteen pounds; a 
demi -culverin, nine pounds of powder, and a bullet of 
twelve pounds. Wilkins. 
CUL'VERKEY, f. A flower.—Looking down the 
meadows I could fee a girl cropping culverkeys and cowf- 
lips, to make garlands. Walton. 
CU'MA, anciently a town of Asolia, in Alia Minor. 
The inhabitants were accufed of flupidity for not laying 
a tax upon all the goods which entered their harbour 
during three hundred years. They were called Cumani. 
CU'MA, a fmall ifland in the Mediterranean near the 
coalt of Italy ; five miles weft of Naples. 
CU'MAi, in ancient geography, a city of Campania, 
near Puteoli, founded by a colony from Chalcis and Cu¬ 
mae of Aiolia before the Trojan war. The inhabitants 
were called Cumeei. One of the Sibyls fixed her refidence 
in a cave in the neighbourhood, and was called the Cu- 
mcan Sibyl. 
CUMA'NA, orNEW Cordova, a town of South Ame¬ 
rica, and capital of New Andalufia. This town was built 
in 1520, and was firft called New Cordova, but is now ge¬ 
nerally known by the name of Cumana. It contains about 
three thoufand inhabitants, who carry on a confiaerable 
trade in cocoa, and other productions of the country. 
The road is commodious for its depth and Lmicircular 
form, which defends it from the violence of the winds. 
Lat. xo. 12. N. Ion 46. 45. W. Ferro. 
CUMA'TIC,/! [from cumatilis, Lat.] Blue, of a Iky 
colour. Not ufed. 
CUM'B ACH, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Bole- 
flaw : four miles north-weft of Gabel. 
To CUM'BER, v. a. [kommeren, komberen, to difturb, 
Dut.] To embarrafs; to entangle; to obftrudt.—The 
learning and maftery of a tongue, being uneafy and un- 
pleafant enough in itfelf, (hould not be cumbered with any 
other difficulties, as is done in this way of proceeding. 
Locke. 
Hardly his head the plunging pilot rears, 
Clogg’d with his cloaths, and cumber'd with his years. 
Dryden, 
To crowd or load with fomething ufelefs.—The multi¬ 
plying variety of arguments, efpecially frivolous ones, is 
not only loft labour, but cumbers the memory to no pur- 
pofe. Locke. —To involve in difficulties and dangers; to 
diftrefs : 
Domeftic fury, and fierce civil firife. 
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy. Shakefpeart. 
To bufy; to diftradt with multiplicity of cares.—Martha 
was cumbered about much ferving. Luke. —To be trouble- 
fome in any place.—Doth the bramble cumber a garden > 
It makes the better hedge; where, if it chances to prick 
the owner, it will tear the thief. Grew. 
CUM'BER, f. [komber, Dut.] Vexation; burdenfome- 
nefs; embaraftment; obftruiftion ; hindrance ; difturb- 
ance ; diftrefs.—•Thus fade thy helps, and thus thy cum~ 
bers fpring. Fairfax. —The greateft lfiips are leaft fervice- 
able, go very deep in water, are of marvellous charge and 
fearful cumber. Raleigh. 
CUM'BERLAND, [the country of the Cumbri, who 
remained there a long time after all the reft of England 
was conquered.] A county of England, bounded on the 
north by Scotland and the Solway Frith, thirty miles; 
on the eaft by Northumberland and Durham, fifty-eight 
miles; on the fouth by Weftmoreland and Lancafhire, 
fixty-nine miles ; and on the weft by the Irifti Sea, fixty- 
feven miles ; in all 224 miles in circumference, fifty-eight 
miles in length, and rather above thirty in breadth. The 
furface is diverlified with plains and eminences ; open, 
braky, heathy, commons, and irregular inclofures, in 
fome parts enriched with rifing plantations; the whole 
watered by innumerable ftreams and extenfive lakes, 
abounding with filh of various denominations, and plenty 
