scramblingn.
/ˈskramblɪŋ/ The action of scramble v.; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > [noun]
fightOE
skirmingc1275
medleyc1330
mellinga1375
strugglingc1386
mellayc1400
meddlinga1450
skirmerya1500
stightlinga1500
debatea1533
camping?1549
scrambling1598
scuffling1599
duel1764
tussling1844
scrapping1891
bopping1958
society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > [noun] > for something shared out
scrambling1598
society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > [noun]
i-winc888
wrestlingc890
fightc1000
flitec1000
teenOE
winOE
ungrithlOE
wara1200
cockingc1225
strife?c1225
strivingc1275
struta1300
barratc1300
thro1303
battlec1375
contentionc1384
tuggingc1440
militationa1460
sturtc1480
bargain1487
bargaining1489
distrifea1500
concertation1509
hold1523
conflict1531
ruffle1532
tangling1535
scamblingc1538
tuilyie1550
bustling1553
tilt1567
ruffling1570
wresting1570
certationc1572
pinglinga1578
reluctation1593
combating1594
yoking1594
bandying1599
tention1602
contrast1609
colluctation1611
contestationa1616
dimication1623
rixation1623
colluctance1625
decertation1635
conflicting1640
contrasto1645
dispute1647
luctation1651
contest1665
stickle1665
contra-colluctation1674
contrasting1688
struggle1706
yed1719
widdle1789
scrambling1792
cut and thrust1846
headbutting1869
push-and-pull1881
contending1882
thrust and parry1889
aggro1973
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving along with hands and feet or with body prone > [noun] > scrambling
scramble1755
scrambling1819
society > communication > telecommunication > [noun] > signal > rendering unintelligible
scrambling1930
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > air operation > rapid take-off
scramble1940
scrambling1955
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > racing with vehicles > motorcycle racing or race > [noun]
scramble1926
speedway1930
motocross1951
scrambling1959
motorcross1960
moto1971
supercross1975
main1980
1598 G. Chapman in tr. Homer Achilles Shield Ded. His [Virgil's] skirmishes are but meere scramblings of boyes to Homers.
1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 9 The Bishops, when they see him tottering, will leave him, and fall to scrambling, catch who may, hee a Patriarch-dome, and another what comes next hand.
1792 J. Barlow Let. on Constit. of 1791 13 Money..creates a perpetual scrambling for power.
1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto II cvii. 172 At last, with swimming, wading, scrambling, he Roll'd on the beach, half senseless.
1888 R. Garnett Life Emerson ii. 86 An age was impending of selfish scrambling and shameless manœuvring.
1908 M. M. Harper Rambles in Galloway vii. 109 We were amply repaid for all our scramblings and genuflexions by the extent and beauty of the prospect.
1930 Engineering 14 Nov. 626/1 The apparatus used for this scrambling, as it is called, is installed at the Central Telegraph Office.
1942 V. E. R. Blunt Use of Air Power viii. 72 Wireless telegraphy and radio telephony..by ‘scrambling’ can now be made secret.
1955 ‘N. Shute’ Requiem for Wren 166 We were in the process of scrambling when the Jerries came over.
1959 New Statesman 14 Nov. 658/1 The simplest definition of scrambling is: the racing of motor bikes over rough ground.
1978 Guardian Weekly 24 Sept. 22/5 Scrambling, as distinct from fell walking and rock climbing, is a Cinderella of a sport.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
scrambling club n.
ΚΠ
1961 Guardian 17 Mar. 3/3 Motor-cycle scrambling clubs.
1974 G. Moffat Corpse Road iv. 64 She belonged to a scrambling club, which means walking... It doesn't mean rock climbing.
scrambling-ground n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > [noun] > place where contest is fought out
fieldeOE
listc1386
cockpita1568
amphitheatre1710
arena1814
scrambling-place1878
scrambling-ground1884
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Feb. 1/1 The Soudan flung away to be the scrambling-ground of the piratical adventurers of the world.
scrambling-place n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > [noun] > place where contest is fought out
fieldeOE
listc1386
cockpita1568
amphitheatre1710
arena1814
scrambling-place1878
scrambling-ground1884
1878 E. Jenkins Haverholme 49 He..protested against making the House of Commons a mere scrambling place for office.
C2.
scrambling net n. Military = scramble net n. at scramble n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > other equipment of vessel > [noun] > net on ship's side for climbing off or on
scramble net1944
scrambling net1959
1959 New Scientist 30 July 125/1 Home grown seeds are extracted from cones, sometimes collected by means of a ‘scrambling net’..thrown over a tall tree.
1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo v. 75 The long-forgotten sensation of climbing down the scrambling net of a troop transport into a landing craft.
1973 A. Ross Dunfermline Affair 36 The scrambling net which the Hermione put over her side.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
scramblingadj.
/ˈskramblɪŋ/ 1. Of persons: That scramble or contend one with another. Also applied to a meal at which the partakers help themselves to what they can get.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > [adjective]
scrambling1607
scuffling1610
milling1811
pugilant1882
bopping1958
the world > food and drink > food > meal > [adjective] > qualities of meals
substantial1340
simplea1387
dry1483
of substance?c1500
large1528
hearty?1550
abstemious1604
scrambling1607
running1618
lusty1672
sit-down1789
well-served1796
à la carte1816
slap-up1823
quaresimal1828
scratch1851
square1868
scrambly1900
set1914
handout1915
all-you-can-eat1940
spready1960
carbo-load1986
1607 F. Beaumont Woman Hater iii. iv. sig. F3 Farewell my fellow Courtiers all, with whome, I haue of yore made many a scrambling meale In corners, behind Arasses, on staires.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Pastorals viii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 36 Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling Boys.
1831 W. O. Porter & J. Porter Sir Edward Seaward's Narr. III. 17 We enjoyed our scrambling meal infinitely more than we did our dinner yesterday.
1834 H. Martineau Moral Many Fables ii. 52 To be divided..among a scrambling multitude.
2.
a. Irregular or rambling in form or habit. Of a plant: Of straggling or rambling growth. scrambling rocket n. (see quot. 1796).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > [adjective] > climbing, spreading, or creeping
running1548
spreading1560
flat1578
ramping1578
wandering1590
upcreeping1611
gadding1638
rambling1653
obsequious1657
reptant1657
scansive1657
scansory1657
procumbent1668
repent1669
scandenta1682
supine1686
scrambling1688
creeping1697
sarmentous1721
reptile1727
sarmentose1760
prostrate1773
trailing1785
decumbent1789
travelling1822
vagrant1827
sarmentaceous1830
humifuse1854
sarmentiferous1858
amphibryous1866
humistratous1880
climbing1882
clambering1883
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > untidiness > [adjective]
untidya1375
unred1528
sluttish?1529
untrimmed?1529
untrick1570
untrim1570
shevelled1613
hirsute1621
incompta1628
messy1627
unneat1648
tawdry1672
slattern1680
bunting1759
untrig1821
sloggering1825
slummocking1825
scrambling1826
poucey1829
anyhow1831
mullocky1839
ragtail1846
mussy1859
slubbery1880
unshipshape1883
mussed1888
slummocky1898
ruggy1929
idle1956
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 86/2 Scrambling Trees are such as grow confusedly wide and spreading, and will not be kept in order.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 584 Erysimum officinale..Hedge Mustard, or Wormseed. Bank Cresses. Scrambling Rocket.
1826 W. Scott Woodstock II. ix. 229 A huge old scrambling bed-room.
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 46 Shrubs, having sometimes a scrambling habit.
1851 Florist 228 Scrambling Roses, to be pegged down during their season of growth, do not make the kind of effect in beds that one could wish.
1863 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants 200 Scrambling Rocket.
b. Of a person: Shambling, uncouth.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > inelegance > [adjective] > ungraceful > specifically of person
awkward1665
scrambling1765
orming1903
1765 W. Cowper Let. 14 Sept. (1979) I. 115 I am upon very good terms with..five families, besides two or three odd, scrambling fellows like myself.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. x. 246 What should such an ill-favoured, scrambling urchin do at court?
3. Irregular, unmethodical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > [adjective]
uneven1390
irregular1483
scambling1592
prevaricant1644
eccentrica1649
vagous1660
erratical1698
scrambling1778
unregular1884
1778 Pr. Frederick in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 417 There had been a scrambling fight between Admiral Biron and Monsieur Destin.
1780 Newgate Cal. V. 196 The ceremony was a business of so scrambling and shabby a nature, that she could as safely swear she was not, as that she was married.
1795 Ld. Nelson 29 July in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) II. 64 The scrambling distant fire was a farce.
1829 T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev. Jan. 464 Their too purblind, scrambling controversies.
1878 W. Stubbs 17 Lect. Study Hist. vii. 137 Peter [of Blois] seems to have led a scrambling sort of literary existence.
1893 G. Tregarthen Austral. Commw. 244 The scrambling, and inefficient administration of the law.
Derivatives
ˈscramblingly adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > [adverb] > hastily or haphazardly
scramblingly1652
any old how1904
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving along with hands and feet or with body prone > [adverb] > in scrambling manner
scramblingly1923
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved To Husbandman sig. e2v Half or one third part of so much land as many of you Till, shall..yeeld you as much corne as all that great quantity scramblingly husbanded.
1923 D. H. Lawrence Ladybird: Fox: Captain's Doll 242 For some time..Alexander gingerly and scramblingly led the way. The slope of ice was steeper, and rounded, so that it was difficult to stand up.
1949 D. L. Sayers tr. Dante Comedy I. xxiv. 221 I..came Scramblingly up and sat down.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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n.1598adj.1607