释义 |
▪ I. scrambling, vbl. n.|ˈskræmblɪŋ| [-ing1.] a. The action of the vb. scramble; an instance of this.
1598Chapman Achilles Shield Ded., His [Virgil's] skirmishes are but meere scramblings of boyes to Homers. 1641Milton Ch. Discip. i. 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. 1792Barlow Constit. of 1791, 13 Money..creates a perpetual scrambling for power. 1819Byron Juan ii. cvii, At last, with swimming, wading, scrambling, he Roll'd on the beach, half senseless. 1888Garnett Emerson ii. 86 An age was impending of selfish scrambling and shameless manœuvring. 1908M. 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. 1930Engineering 14 Nov. 626/1 The apparatus used for this scrambling, as it is called, is installed at the Central Telegraph Office. 1942V. 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. 1959New Statesman 14 Nov. 658/1 The simplest definition of scrambling is: the racing of motor bikes over rough ground. 1978Guardian Weekly 24 Sept. 22/5 Scrambling, as distinct from fell walking and rock climbing, is a Cinderella of a sport. b. attrib., as scrambling club, scrambling-ground, scrambling-place; scrambling net Mil. = scramble net s.v. scramble n. 4; also transf.
1961Guardian 17 Mar. 3/3 Motor-cycle scrambling clubs. 1974G. Moffat Corpse Road iv. 64 She belonged to a scrambling club, which means walking... It doesn't mean rock climbing.
1884Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Feb. 1/1 The Soudan flung away to be the scrambling-ground of the piratical adventurers of the world.
1959New 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. 1964C. Willock Enormous Zoo v. 75 The long-forgotten sensation of climbing down the scrambling net of a troop transport into a landing craft. 1973A. Ross Dunfermline Affair 36 The scrambling net which the Hermione put over her side.
1878E. Jenkins Haverholme 49 He..protested against making the House of Commons a mere scrambling place for office. ▪ II. scrambling, ppl. a.|ˈskræmblɪŋ| [f. scramble v. + -ing2. Cf. scambling ppl. a.] 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.
1607Beaumont Woman Hater iii. iv, Farewell my fellow Courtiers all, with whome, I haue of yore made many a scrambling meale In corners, behind Arasses, on staires. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. viii. 42 Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling Boys. 1831J. Porter Sir E. Seaward's Narr. III. 17 We enjoyed our scrambling meal infinitely more than we did our dinner yesterday. 1834H. Martineau Moral ii. 52 To be divided..among a scrambling multitude. 2. Irregular or rambling in form or habit. Of a plant: Of straggling or rambling growth.
1688Holme Armoury ii. 86/2 Scrambling Trees are such as grow confusedly wide and spreading, and will not be kept in order. 1826Scott Woodst. xxi, A huge old scrambling bed-room. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 46 Shrubs, having sometimes a scrambling habit. 1851Florist 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. 1863Prior Plant-n. 200 Scrambling Rocket. b. Of a person: Shambling, uncouth.
1765Cowper Lett. 14 Sept., I am upon good terms with..five families, besides two or three odd scrambling fellows like myself. 1821Scott Kenilw. x, What should such an ill⁓favoured, scrambling urchin do at court? 3. Irregular, unmethodical.
1778Pr. Frederick in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 417 There had been a scrambling fight between Admiral Biron and Monsieur Destin. 1780Newgate 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. 1795Nelson 29 July in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 64 The scrambling distant fire was a farce. 1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 45 Their too purblind, scrambling controversies. 1878Stubbs Mediæval & Mod. Hist. vii. 137 Peter [of Blois] seems to have led a scrambling sort of literary existence. 1893G. Tregarthen Austral. Commw. 244 The scrambling, and inefficient administration of the law. Hence ˈscramblingly adv.
1653W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (ed. 3) To Husbandman, Half or one third part of so much land as many of you Till, shall..yeeld you as much corn as all that great quantity scramblingly husbanded. 1923D. H. Lawrence Ladybird 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. 1949D. L. Sayers tr. Dante's Inferno xxiv. 221, I..came Scramblingly up and sat down. |