Literary notes about scrambled (AI summary)
The word “scrambled” in literature conveys both swift, chaotic movement and the act of reordering or mixing elements. Authors frequently use it to depict characters’ urgent motions—rushing out of bed in alarm ([1], [2], [3]), clambering over steep terrain ([4], [5], [6], [7]), or darting into escape ([8], [9], [10]). At times, it even serves a culinary function, as in the case of preparing scrambled eggs ([11], [12]). Moreover, it can describe abstract rearrangements, such as the jumbled form of a secret message ([13]). This multi-layered usage enriches narratives by instilling a sense of disorder, immediacy, and transformation.
- Phil, by the by, said as much in a tone of surprise as he scrambled out of bed.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - He scrambled to his feet exclaiming, 'No! Rivets!' as though he couldn't believe his ears.
— from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed.
— from A Christmas Carol in Prose; Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens - ulously whitewashed it had become somewhat shaky, and Anne felt rather dubious as she scrambled up from the vantage point of a keg placed on a box.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - He scrambled up the bank with a speed that could not be exceeded by a bloodthirsty man.
— from The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane - The Toad's misery turned into rapture as he eagerly scrambled up into the cab of the engine.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - Without a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled down the wall, as before, into the Count’s room.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - me-yow!” as soft as I could, and then I put out the light and scrambled out of the window on to the shed.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - The idea being an alarming one, he scrambled out of bed, and groped his way to the window.
— from A Christmas Carol in Prose; Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens - We scrambled from rock to rock, until in a few moments we had made our way to a point from which we could see the front door of the inn.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Harris proposed that we should have scrambled eggs for breakfast.
— from Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome - It seemed, from his account, that he was very good at doing scrambled eggs.
— from Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome - The scrambled message, called the "ciphertext."
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
