scramble
v.— «“It’s been a long week,” Delio said. “I played well. When my approach shots weren’t hit that well, I saved myself by scrambling. If I teed a green, I was pretty solid all week.” Scrambling in golf is a term for missing the green off the tee, then hitting out of the rough and back down into the hole.» —“Delio delivers with gold medal” by Bruce Bourquin The Signal (Santa Clarita, California) June 22, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
Jim in Columbia, South Carolina, has noticed sportscasters’ use of the phrase on the season with reference to a period of time. This construction shows up in the sports pages as early as the 1880s, first referring to a team’s revenue and...