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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
scramble
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
scrambled egg
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
around
▪ The money has run out before on him, but we scrambled around to get him to stay.
▪ The music press scrambled around, at times rather pathetically, to grasp hold of the truth.
▪ Woolly monkeys and howlers, spider monkeys and capuchins, tamarins and marmosets scramble around one another reaching for the fruit.
▪ As the show is brought up to performance night, 100 people can be scrambling around the stage.
■ NOUN
ball
▪ The next time Anna had to scramble after the ball, she risked a glance at mummy.
bank
▪ He scrambles up the bank, heading for home.
▪ After the attack another lorry driver saw a man of the same height scrambling away from the river bank.
egg
▪ The year before he'd had scrambled eggs for Christmas dinner and no presents.
▪ He makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches and scrambled eggs because of his fearless use of butter.
▪ She went into the kitchen, scrambled three eggs and returned to the living room to eat them.
▪ Or, even easier, scramble some eggs and grate some of the heavenly fungus over the top.
▪ I am the one scrambling eggs for dinner and sitting on porches with friends while the kids roam the neighborhood on bikes.
▪ Instant scrambled eggs, frozen fried eggs, canned eggnog, and many other convenient egg foods are being market tested.
▪ Precooked and frozen scrambled eggs with sausage are one combination of ready-to-eat breakfasts being marketed.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ In this game, the letters of the words are scrambled.
▪ Most cable TV companies began scrambling their signals in the mid-1980s.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Begging five minutes, I scramble to dress and throw the bed together, mind scrabbling to approximate readiness.
▪ Consciousness of the audience made Michael Banks nervous, and nervousness scrambled the lines in his head even further.
▪ Error correction is what modems do to compensate when bits get lost or scrambled because the phone connection is less than perfect.
▪ I noticed his look of alarm, and scrambled to my feet and stared forward, also listening intently.
▪ It is an up-to-date form of telephone scrambling.
▪ Most of those aboard the Vlorewere quickly rounded up after scrambling or swimming ashore.
▪ Some scramble for the freshly scrubbed MBAs; others want analysts who come from the industry they will cover.
▪ We scrambled out of our tents shouting excitedly, straight into the pools of torchlight coming from the mountain rescue team.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
mad
▪ And whatever happens, after May 3 they're predicting a mad scramble for one-way only tickets.
▪ A mad scramble followed a Dollar free throw, and Hamilton eventually grabbed the ball on the right wing.
▪ Spurs regained the lead in the 51st minute after a mad scramble in the United area before Jason Dozzell slotted home.
▪ Police contend Bagby nearly ran over two officers in a mad scramble to get home.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A mad scramble followed a Dollar free throw, and Hamilton eventually grabbed the ball on the right wing.
▪ Jane could see the village clearly, although it was a twenty-minute scramble away.
▪ More crusts fell from the vicious scramble overhead.
▪ Nor were the crowd to be denied, for they tore the black baize cloth to shreds in their scramble for souvenirs.
▪ There was a real scramble behind them.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Scramble

Scramble \Scram"ble\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Scrambled; p. pr. & vb. n. Scrambling.] [Freq. of Prov. E. scramb to rake together with the hands, or of scramp to snatch at. cf. Scrabble.]

  1. To clamber with hands and knees; to scrabble; as, to scramble up a cliff; to scramble over the rocks.

  2. To struggle eagerly with others for something thrown upon the ground; to go down upon all fours to seize something; to catch rudely at what is desired.

    Of other care they little reckoning make, Than how to scramble at the shearer's feast.
    --Milton.

Scramble

Scramble \Scram"ble\, n.

  1. The act of scrambling, climbing on all fours, or clambering.

  2. The act of jostling and pushing for something desired; eager and unceremonious struggle for what is thrown or held out; as, a scramble for office.

    Scarcity [of money] enhances its price, and increases the scramble.
    --Locke.

Scramble

Scramble \Scram"ble\, v. t.

  1. To collect by scrambling; as, to scramble up wealth.
    --Marlowe.

  2. To prepare (eggs) as a dish for the table, by stirring the yolks and whites together while cooking.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
scramble

1580s (intransitive), perhaps a nasalized variant of scrabble (v.), in its sense of "to struggle, to scrape quickly." Transitive sense "to stir or toss together randomly" is from 1822. Broadcasting sense "to make unintelligible" is attested from 1927. Related: Scrambled; scrambling. Scrambled eggs first recorded 1843.

scramble

1670s, "an eager, rude contest or struggle," from scramble (v.). Meaning "a walk or ramble involving clambering and struggling with obstacles" is from 1755. Meaning "rapid take-off" first recorded 1940, R.A.F. slang.

Wiktionary
scramble

interj. (context UK English) shouted when something desirable is thrown into a group of people who individually want that item. n. 1 A rush or hurry 2 (context military English) An emergency defensive air force mission to intercept attacking enemy aircraft. 3 A motocross race 4 Any frantic period of activity. vb. (context intransitive English) To move hurriedly to a location, especially by using all limbs against a surface.

WordNet
scramble
  1. v. to move hurriedly; "The friend scrambled after them"

  2. climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling [syn: clamber, shin, shinny, skin, struggle, sputter]

  3. bring into random order [syn: jumble, throw together]

  4. stir vigorously; "beat the egg whites"; "beat the cream" [syn: beat]

  5. make unintelligible; "scramble the message so that nobody can understand it" [ant: unscramble]

scramble
  1. n. an unceremonious and disorganized struggle [syn: scuffle]

  2. rushing about hastily in an undignified way [syn: scamper, scurry]

Wikipedia
Scramble (video game)

is a 1981 side-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game. It was developed by Konami, and manufactured and distributed by Leijac in Japan and Stern in North America. It was the first side-scrolling hooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels. The Konami Scramble arcade system board hardware uses two Zilog Z80 microprocessors for the central processing unit, two AY-3-8910 sound chips for the sound, and Namco Galaxian video hardware for the graphics.

The game was a success, selling 15,136 video game arcade cabinets in the United States within five months, by August 4, 1981, becoming Stern's second best-selling game after Berzerk. Its sequel, the more difficult Super Cobra, sold 12,337 cabinets in the US in four months that same year, adding up to 27,473 US cabinet sales for both, by October 1981.

Scramble was not ported to any major contemporary consoles or computers, but there were versions for the Tomy Tutor and Vectrex. Several unauthorized clones for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 used the same name as the original.

Scramble (comics)

Scramble (Lionel Jeffries), also known as Scramble the Mixed-Up Man, was a Marvel Comics supervillain and Canadian mutant. Specifically, he was an enemy of Alpha Flight, but for a brief time he was alternately their ally.

Scramble (film)

Scramble is a 1970 British drama film directed by David Eady and starring Ian Ramsey, Robin Askwith, Lucinda Barnes and Stephen Mallett.

Scramble

Scramble, Scrambled or Scrambling may refer to:

Scramble (slave auction)

A scramble was an early form of slave auction which took place at the height of the Atlantic slave trade in the British colonies of the West Indies in the eighteenth century.

Scramble (album)

Scramble is the second album by Atlanta-based indie rock group the Coathangers. It was released on April 7, 2009 on Suicide Squeeze Records.

Usage examples of "scramble".

She scrambled through the afterclap of her own wagon and, within a short while, emerged again.

Clutching his bow and quiver, Alec dropped and scrambled on his belly to the nearest trees.

Scrambling to his feet, Alec glimpsed a pair of bony ankles at lynn Flewelling the head of the stairs.

A conclusion that sent Harold Smith scrambling for his green wastebasket and fumbling to his desktop an assortment of aspirins, antacids and other remedies.

He could see Bamaputra and Antal scrambling to destroy incriminating records as they called frantically for a ship to evacuate the installation.

His steps slowed overhead and she found herself listening out for him anxiously as she hurried to her own bedroom, showered and scrambled into a simple scoop-neck T-shirt and denim button-through skirt, dragging aquick brush through her hair.

Crewmen on the deck scrambled for safety as the F14, its left wing dragging on steel, spun broadside, snapping the arrestor cables one after another as it hurtled toward a row of A6 Intruders just abaft of the island.

He turned round balefully, thrust his head between the top and centre banding bars, and tried to scramble through.

I turned, tried to run, slipped on slush, and scrambled up, but Beane was on me, grabbing me, locking my body against his, kneading my breasts, clutching my sex, moaning and crying, trying to kiss me.

Scrambling into the back seat, she scooted over to the far side and helped Bender lay Jace inside, his head nestled in her lap.

Malcolm, having descended to the shore of the little bay, and scrambled out upon the rocks, bethought him of a certain cave which he had not visited since he was a child, and climbing over the high rocks between, took shelter there from the wind.

He tossed the pie to the fauns, who scrambled for it, bleating and whimpering.

Tash and Deevee both scrambled backward as the blob lunged forward and landed heavily on the spot where they had been standing.

A small slurp above her gave Tash just enough warning, and she scrambled out of the way as another blob dropped from the ceiling.

Then I hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled the bowlder before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and shield scrambled down into the peaceful valley.