English
score
Etymology

From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru, from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō, which is related to *skeraną ("to cut"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.

For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) enPR: skôr, IPA: /skɔː/
  • (America) enPR: skôrʹ, IPA: /skɔɹ/
  • (rhotic, non-horse-hoarse) enPR: skōrʹ, IPA: /sko(ː)ɹ/
  • (non-rhotic, non-horse-hoarse) IPA: /skoə/
Noun

score (plural scores)

  1. The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.
    The player with the highest score is the winner.
  2. The number of points accrued by each of the participants in a game, expressed as a ratio or a series of numbers.
    The score is 8-1 even though it's not even half-time!
  3. The performance of an individual or group on an examination or test, expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a grade.
    The test scores for this class were high.
  4. Twenty, 20.
    Some words have scores of meanings.
    • 1863 November 18, Abraham Lincoln, Dedicatory Remarks (Gettysburg Address)‎[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address_(Bliss_copy)], near Soldiers' National Cemetery, →LCCN ↗, Bliss copy, page 1:
      Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
  5. (gambling) An amount of money won in gambling; winnings.
    • 2013, Arnold Snyder, Big Book of Blackjack:
      Use a few “introductory plays” to become known to a casino before you go for a big score.
  6. A distance of twenty yards, in ancient archery and gunnery.
    • 1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 26, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC ↗:
      At Markes full fortie score they vs'd to Prick and Roue.
  7. A weight of twenty pounds.
  8. (music) The written form of a musical composition showing all instrumental and vocal parts.
  9. (music) The music of a movie or play.
  10. Subject.
  11. Account; reason; motive; sake; behalf.
    • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC ↗:
      But left the trade, as many more / Have lately done on the same score.
    • 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC ↗, Act V, scene ii, page 65 ↗:
      You act your kindneſs on Cydaria’s ſcore.
  12. A notch or incision; especially, one that is made as a tally mark; hence, a mark, or line, made for the purpose of account.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene vii]:
      Whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used.
  13. An account or reckoning; account of dues; bill; debt.
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene viii]:
      He parted well, and paid his score.
  14. (US, crime, slang) a criminal act, especially:
    1. A robbery.
      Let's pull a score!
    2. A bribe paid to a police officer.
    3. An illegal sale, especially of drugs.
      He made a big score.
    4. A prostitute's client.
  15. (originally, US, vulgar, slang) A sexual conquest.
  16. (UK, regional) In the Lowestoft area, a narrow pathway running down a cliff to the beach.
    • 1975, John Seymour, The Companion Guide to the Coast of North-east England, page 206:
      Above the harbour, steeply up the hill, run The Bolts, narrow stepped passages, equivalent of The Scores of Lowestoft and The Rows of Great Yarmouth.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: 20 libbre
Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

score (scores, present participle scoring; simple past and past participle scored)

  1. (transitive) To cut a notch or a groove in a surface.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:
      A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away, […].
    The baker scored the cake so that the servers would know where to slice it.
  2. (intransitive) To record the tally of points for a game, a match, or an examination.
  3. (ambitransitive) To obtain something desired.
    • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 50”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC ↗:
      "Of course it would be hypocritical for me to pretend that I regret what Abraham did. After all, I've scored by it."
    1. To earn points in a game.
      It is unusual for a team to score a hundred goals in one game.
      Pelé scores again!
    2. To achieve academic credit on a test, quiz, homework, assignment, or course.
      • 2004, Diane McGuinness, Early reading instruction: what science really tells us about how to teach reading:
        At the end of first grade, the children scored 80 percent correct on this test, a value that remained unchanged through third grade.
    3. (gambling) To win money by gambling.
      • 2005, Shannon Nash, For the Love of Money, page 215:
        […] he scored big by hitting the jack pot at the Bellagio (he won $7,000). The next day, he won $15,000 on the nickel machines at the Palm Casino!
    4. (slang) To acquire or gain.
      I scored some drugs last night.
      Did you score tickets for the concert?
    5. (US, crime, slang, of a police officer) To extract a bribe.
    6. (vulgar, slang) To obtain a sexual favor.
      Chris finally scored with Pat last week.
  4. (transitiveb) To rate; to evaluate the quality of.
    Critics scored the game 92%.
  5. (transitive, music, film) To provide (a film, etc.) with a musical score.
Conjugation
Conjugation of score

infinitive (to) score
present tense past tense
1st-person singular score scored
2nd-person singular

 score, scorest†

 scored, scoredst†
3rd-person singular

 scores, scoreth†

 scored
plural

 score

subjunctive

 score

scored
imperative

 score

—
participles

 scoring

 scored

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms Translations Translations
  • French: marquer
  • Italian: segnare il punteggio
Translations Translations Interjection
  1. (US, slang) Acknowledgement of success


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