SCRAM'BLE, verb intransitive [It is not improbably that this word is corrupted from the root of scrape, scrabble.]

1. To move or climb by seizing objects with the hand, and drawing the body forward; as, to scramble up a cliff.

2. To seize or catch eagerly at any thing that is desired; to catch with haste preventive of another; to catch at without ceremony. Man originally was obliged to scramble with wild beasts for nuts and acorns.

Of other care they little reck'ning make, than how to scramble at the shearer's feast.

SCRAM'BLE, noun

1. An eager contest for something, in which one endeavors to get the thing before another.

The scarcity of money enhances the price and increases the scramble

2. The act of climbing by the help of the hands.