scramble
/ˈskɹæmbl̩/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.39 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To move hurriedly to a location, especially by using all limbs against a surface.
Intransitive verb
verb
To process telecommunication signals to make them unintelligible to an unauthorized listener.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "As half-time approached Fabregas had another chance to give Barcelona the lead. He collected an incisive Messi pass and this time beat Cech, who required Cole to scramble back and clear the ball off the line."
- "When I saw the coffin I knew that I was respited, for, as I judged, there was space between it and the wall behind enough to contain my little carcass; and in a second I had put out the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half-stunned my senses with dashing my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall and coffin."
- "I scrambled some eggs with spinach and cheese."
- "I don't understand this at all. First, Paige made out with me in the art room, but then she wouldn't hold my hand even though she's the one who came up with the hand-holding rule in the first place, months ago. / Ahh, tale as old as time, beautiful vixen using her wiles to scramble your brains."
- "But on April 13 it 'scrambled' a rake of Mk 2s and dual-braked 'Black 5' 45212 to start its lucrative summer money-spinner two days later."
- "As the planes scrambled, four of his veterans went up: Tom Lanphier, Rex Barber, Joe Moore and Jim McLanahan. They had waited with other Lightnings at 30,000 feet and dived on a formation of eleven Zeroes far below, working in pairs."
Etymology
Origin uncertain. Perhaps from earlier dialectal scramble, scrammel (“to collect or rake together with the hands”), from scramb (“to pull or scrape together with the hands”) + -le (frequentative suffix) (compare Dutch schrammen (“to graze, brush, scratch”)); or alternatively from a nasalised form of scrabble (“to scrape or scratch quickly”).
Usage
- Intransitive verb
- Transitive verb
- British usage