scramble

Etymology

The verb is of obscure origin, first recorded late in the 16th century.^[2][3] The OED compares the dialect words scramb and scrame, to pull or take together with the hands, and also scrawm, scamble and cramble.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster take it as perhaps a variant or alteration of scrabble,^[4][5] and Etymonline as perhaps a nasalized variant of it.^[3] The AHD suggests a blend of the obsolete scamble, to struggle for, and the dialect cramble, to crawl;^[6] Dictionary.com a blend of the dialect scamble, to stumble along, and scrabble;^[7] and Collins a blend of scrabble and ramp.^[8] The ODE and Oxford's “Word Origins” call it imitative,^[9][10] and Hoad "of symbolic form".^[11] Weekley thought it was the earlier scamble altered under the influence of scrabble in the sense of clawing, and noted that both words were used in the 16th century of clambering and of struggling for money;^[12] Skeat saw a nasalized form of a dialect scrabble.^[13] The noun is from the verb.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1568, in the sense of moving hastily or anxiously.^[5] The OED's first record, before 1586 in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, is of getting up or making one's way by struggling with the hands and feet, clambering over rough ground.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Almost at once the verb also meant struggling with others for a share of something, about 1590,^[4][2] and then, from 1647, seizing something greedily.^[2] The noun began with that sense, an eager or disorderly struggle, from 1663 in the OED^[2] (1674 in Barnhart, 1648 in Merriam-Webster),^[4][5] and Johnson's Dictionary (1755) first recorded it for an act of clambering.^[4][2] Johnson defined the noun as an "eager contest for something, in which one endeavours to get it before another".^[14] The idea of hurried confusion led to the transitive sense "to gather up hastily, to jumble" (1822),^[2][3] and so to eggs stirred while cooking: scrambled eggs are recorded by 1843,^[3] the verb in this sense in Webster's dictionary of 1864.^[2] In 1927 it was applied to making a telephone or radio signal unintelligible,^[2][3] and in 1940, in RAF slang, to fighter aircraft taking off at once, both as verb and noun.^[2][3] American football added a quarterback's run to escape tacklers (verb 1964, noun 1971),^[2][3] and a scramble has also been a motorcycle race over rough ground since 1926.^[2] In Yorkshire dialect the verb meant to rake together with the hands,^[15] and in American slang to make a living by various, often illegal, schemes (1989).^[16] Oxford's “Word Origins” derives scram, go away, from it.^[10]

Timeline

• 1568 – to move hastily (first known use in Merriam-Webster).^[5]
• before 1586 – to clamber, struggle up with hands and feet, in Sidney's Arcadia.^[2][4]
• c. 1590 – to struggle with others for something.^[4][2]
• 1663 – noun, a disorderly struggle for something; 1674 in Barnhart.^[2][4]
• 1755 – noun, an act of clambering, in Johnson.^[2][4]
• 1822 – to gather up hastily, to jumble.^[2][3]
• 1843 – scrambled eggs.^[3]
• 1926 – noun, a motorcycle race over rough ground.^[2]
• 1927 – to make a signal unintelligible; to muddle.^[2][3]
• 1940 – of fighter aircraft, to take off quickly (RAF).^[2][3]
• 1964 – American football, of a quarterback.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To climb or crawl quickly, using the hands as well as the feet: They scrambled up the loose scree.^[8][5][2]
2. To move or act hurriedly and in disorder: She scrambled into her coat and ran for the bus.^[8][5]
3. To struggle or compete eagerly with others for something: Investors scrambled for the remaining shares.^[8][5][2]
4. To mix or throw together in a confused way; to jumble.^[8][2]
5. To cook eggs beaten together, stirring them in the pan.^[8][2]
6. To make a signal or transmission unintelligible without a special device.^[2][3]
7. Of military aircraft or their crews, to take off at once to meet an attack.^[2][3]

Noun

1. An eager or disorderly struggle for something: the scramble for tickets.^[5][2]
2. An act of clambering, or a walk over rough ground.^[5][2][3]
3. A motorcycle race over rough, hilly ground.^[2]
4. A quick take-off by military aircraft.^[2][3]

Word family

• scrambler
• descrambler
• unscrambler
• scrambled eggs

Related words

• scrabble
• scamble
• cramble
• scram

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com