| 释义 |
unˈscramble, v.
[un-2 3.]
1. trans. To reverse the process of scrambling (eggs). Also in fig. contexts.
This would appear to be the earlier sense though pre-1926 printed evidence has not been found.
1926R. H. Tawney Relig. & Rise of Capitalism ii. 88 But the discovery of the sage who observed that it is not possible to unscramble eggs had already been made. 1928C. Sandburg Good Morning, America 18 Can you unscramble eggs?.. J. Pierpont Morgan's query as to court decrees dissolving an inevitable industrial combination. 1969P.E.N. IX. 46 She quoted, as an example, ‘Mr. Enoch Powell called last night for the denationalisation of all State-owned industries and explained exactly how to unscramble the eggs.’ 1980J. Wainwright Tainted Man 131 You demanded retribution..your law..unscrambles all eggs.
2. To put into or restore to order; to disentangle; to make sense of (something) confused; to extricate from (or from) a state of confusion or muddle; to separate into constituent parts; to ‘dismantle’ (an organization or system); spec. to restore (a signal) by applying the reverse of the process previously used to scramble it; to render intelligible in this way.
1923Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves x. 104, I collapsed on to the settee and rather lost interest in things for the moment. When I had unscrambled myself I found that Jeeves and the child had retired. 1927[see scramble v. 3 c]. 1952Times 17 Nov. 6/1 The Government propose to ‘unscramble’ nationalized road haulage service. 1955[see scramble v. 3 c]. 1956Archivum Linguisticum VIII. 153 Since Trubetzkoy's untimely death the task of unscrambling them [sc. phonology and phonemics] has been pursued with wearisome halts. 1956Auden & Kallman Magic Flute (1957) 116 So english, remodel Our lines as you please, Unscramble the drama and jumble the keys. 1958Times 19 Aug. 9/2 Very broadly the intention seems to be to ‘unscramble’ from the French legislature those territories which wish to become federated. 1959Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 14/3 By putting money in a box attached to a set the viewer automatically ‘unscrambles’ the transmission. 1963Ibid. 10 Jan. 1/8 The process of ‘unscrambling’ Northern Rhodesia..will take very much longer. 1973‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog ii. 31 The message was unscrambled by a radio on a fast, low-profile motor-yacht. 1974Listener 9 May 597/1 When the Conservatives returned to office in 1951 they didn't unscramble the National Health Service. 1978R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xxxvi. 420 You should bring him instead a potion to unscramble his doddering brains. 1981Sunday Express (Colour Suppl.) 12 July 33/4 Only those who pay the extra rental are provided with a device to unscramble the film signals. 1983Listener 18 Aug. 8/1 It was often more fruitful than trying to unscramble what he was actually saying.
Hence unˈscrambled ppl. a.; unˈscrambling vbl. n.
1955J. G. Davis Dict. Dairying (ed. 2) 993 (caption) Unscrambling machine. 1958Listener 25 Sept. 463/2 The unscrambling attachments to the receiving sets. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Jan. 30/3 To be brought up short on page 78 by a sentence scrambled by the printer almost beyond unscrambling. 1959Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 14/3 In another method, the ‘unscrambling’ is done by dialling, as on a telephone. 1959Times 11 June 5/7 The transparency of the texture and the clean, fresh sounds of unscrambled timbres. 1964L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin xxx. 156 There was a din of unscrambled noise before Charlotte Street switched the scrambler into the circuit. |