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scrambler

[skram-bler]
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noun
  1. a person or thing that scrambles.
  2. an electronic device that mixes and confuses telecommunications signals in order to make them unintelligible through certain circuits.Compare unscrambler(def 2).
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Origin of scrambler

First recorded in 1680–90; scramble + -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for scrambler

Historical Examples

  • His image shimmered, then cleared as the scrambler units aligned.

    Planet of the Damned

    Harry Harrison

  • The screen flowed with the black and white patterns of the scrambler.

    Planet of the Damned

    Harry Harrison

  • He threw the scrambler switch, then asked anxiously, "Yes, Steve?"

  • When he walked in, his secretary was answering the line fitted with a scrambler, which connected directly with the Pentagon.

  • I don't like to talk about it by screen—too many people know our scrambler combinations.

    The Cosmic Computer

    Henry Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for scrambler

scrambler

noun
  1. a plant that produces long weak shoots by which it grows over other plants
  2. an electronic device that renders speech unintelligible during transmission, normal speech being restored at the receiving system
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
scrambler in Science

scrambler

[skrăm′blər]
  1. An electronic device that scrambles telecommunication signals to make them unintelligible to anyone without a special receiver.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.