unscramblev.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈskrambl/, U.S. /ˌənˈskræmb(ə)l/ 1. transitive. To reverse the process of scrambling (eggs). Also in figurative contexts. This would appear to be the earlier sense though pre-1926 printed evidence has not been found.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separate [verb (transitive)] > separate mixture
unmix1558
unmingle1569
unscramble1926
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook [verb (transitive)] > cook specific food > eggs
poachc1450
tire1486
hard-boil1653
scramble1864
omelette1867
unscramble1926
1926 R. H. Tawney Relig. & Rise Capitalism ii. 88 But the discovery of the sage who observed that it is not possible to unscramble eggs had already been made.
1928 C. Sandburg Good Morning, Amer. 18 Can you unscramble eggs?.. J. Pierpont Morgan's query as to court decrees dissolving an inevitable industrial combination.
1969 P.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.’
1980 J. 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (transitive)] > scramble or unscramble
unscramble1923
scramble1927
descramble1944
the world > relative properties > order > put in (proper) order [verb (transitive)] > reduce to order > disentangle
dismeddle1480
redd1513
untangle1550
unsnarl1555
disintricate1598
unentangle1610
disinvolve1611
elaqueate1656
disentangle1660
dismingle1669
unscramble1923
1923 P. G. Wodehouse 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 Gen. Electr. Rev. XXX. 84/2 A Hammond multiplex system may be used with seven intermediate carrier waves which are scrambled and sent out by a single transmitter and then unscrambled at the receiving station so that each controls one of the seven light beams.
1952 Times 17 Nov. 6/1 The Government propose to ‘unscramble’ nationalized road haulage service.
1955 Times 4 June 6/6 All three work on the principle of a device attached to the subscriber's television set which ‘scrambles’ the programmes to be televised until a fee is paid to unscramble them.
1956 Archivum Linguisticum 8 153 Since Trubetzkoy's untimely death the task of unscrambling them [sc. phonology and phonemics] has been pursued with wearisome halts.
1956 W. H. Auden & C. Kallman Magic Flute (1957) 116 So english, remodel Our lines as you please, Unscramble the drama and jumble the keys.
1958 Times 19 Aug. 9/2 Very broadly the intention seems to be to ‘unscramble’ from the French legislature those territories which wish to become federated.
1959 Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 14/3 By putting money in a box attached to a set the viewer automatically ‘unscrambles’ the transmission.
1963 Daily Tel. 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.
1974 Listener 9 May 597/1 When the Conservatives returned to office in 1951 they didn't unscramble the National Health Service.
1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xxxvi. 420 You should bring him instead a potion to unscramble his doddering brains.
1981 Sunday Express 12 July (Colour Suppl.) 33/4 Only those who pay the extra rental are provided with a device to unscramble the film signals.
1983 Listener 18 Aug. 8/1 It was often more fruitful than trying to unscramble what he was actually saying.
Derivatives
unˈscrambled adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > [adjective] > scrambling or unscrambling
scrambled1930
unscrambled1959
1959 Times 11 June 5/7 The transparency of the texture and the clean, fresh sounds of unscrambled timbres.
1964 L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin xxx. 156 There was a din of unscrambled noise before Charlotte Street switched the scrambler into the circuit.
unˈscrambling n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > [noun] > signal > rendering unintelligible > rendering intelligible
unscrambling1955
descrambling1957
1955 J. G. Davis Dict. Dairying (ed. 2) 993 (caption) Unscrambling machine.
1958 Listener 25 Sept. 463/2 The unscrambling attachments to the receiving sets.
1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Jan. 30/3 To be brought up short on page 78 by a sentence scrambled by the printer almost beyond unscrambling.
1959 Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 14/3 In another method, the ‘unscrambling’ is done by dialling, as on a telephone.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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