1. An unceremonious scuffle or disorganized struggle: There was a scramble by the children under the broken piñata to find all the candy and treats.
2. Rushing around quickly in an undignified way: The scramble by the holiday shoppers to get on the bus made it difficult for Rosetta to keep her balance.
3. The rapid departure of military aircraft when responding to an alert or an imminent crisis: The scramble by the fighter pilots was done in perfect synchronization with the other planes.

1. To hurry or to try very hard to get something, often competing with other people: As soon as the doors were opened, people were scrambling to get the best seats.

Companies are currently scrambling to recruit skilled workers.

Tensions were increasing as diplomats scrambled to prevent another war.

2. To jumble or to combine in a haphazard manner: Try not to scramble the box of socks too badly because they still need to be sorted.
3. To assemble in a disorderly fashion or to be in a state of disarray: At the start of the seasonal sale, the shoppers were scrambling at the front entrance of the store.
4. To cook eggs that have been mixed together: Eleanor was scrambling the eggs for her family's breakfast.
5. To change, to modify or to add a distortion or confusing sounds to an electronic signal in order to confuse the recipient unless he or she has a special receiver: The environmental technician was doing her best to scramble the tweet message to the twitter base of supporters.
6. To bring about the flight of aircraft quickly in response to an alert or crisis situation: The pilots quickly scrambled their aircraft into the air from their inland base.