Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SCRAM'BLE, v.i. [D. schrammen, to scratch. It is not improbable 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. – Milton.