combobulate

present singular third person combobulates · participle present combobulating · participle past combobulated · past combobulated

1. humorousTo compose (oneself); to compose, organize, design, or arrange; to reverse the effect of discombobulation.

   After losing his train of thought, the teacher took a deep breath and attempted to combobulate himself.

   5 more examples

   "I guess it would be better to try to make a Chanute glider—just a pair of sup'rimposed planes, instead of one all combobulated like a bat's wings, like Lilienthal's glider was..."

   1915, Sinclair Lewis, The Trail of the Hawk

   ...I thought we might do better if she had a moment to combobulate herself on her own terms.

   1991, Madison Smartt Bell, Doctor Sleep, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, page 95

   If he could not measure and scale and combobulate, a computer could do it.

   2008, David Adams Richards, The Lost Highway: a Novel, Anchor Canada, page 125

   Alexa climbed grudgingly into the back and their father said to just hold on now while we get ourselves combobulated and handed Alyssa a brimming cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

   2012, Brian McGreevy, Hemlock Grove: a Novel, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, page 94

   To keep things not unnecessarily combobulated and focused and the game face on for those that needed me still...

   2013, G. Meridian Paris, Southern Women, Author House, page 307

   Synonyms: recombobulate