score
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear.
For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: skôr, IPA(key): /skɔː/
- (General American) enPR: skôrʹ, IPA(key): /skɔɹ/
Audio (US): (file) - (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: skōrʹ, IPA(key): /sko(ː)ɹ/
- (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /skoə/
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
Noun
editscore (plural scores)
← 10 | 20 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
2[a], [b] | ||||
Cardinal: twenty Ordinal: twentieth Adverbial: twenty times Multiplier: twentyfold Germanic collective: score |
- The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.
- The player with the highest score is the winner.
- 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!
- 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.
- Twenty (20).
- Some words have scores of meanings.
- 1863 November 19, Abraham Lincoln, Dedicatory Remarks (Gettysburg Address)[1], 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.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152:
- I went on trying for fish along the western bank down the river, but only small trout rose at my flies, and a score was the total catch.
- 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.
- A weight of twenty pounds.
- (British, slang) Twenty pounds sterling.
- 2012 September 9, “Deepest Shame (New Machine Remix)”, performed by w:Plan B (musician),Chip,Devlin:
- DEVLIN:You know the apple and core. Head might cost you a score, or more if you want a meat show on all fours.
- (often in the plural) A great deal; many, several.
- (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.
- (music) The written form of a musical composition showing all instrumental and vocal parts.
- (music) The music of a movie or play.
- 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
- Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
- A subject.
- 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 245e:
- Well, although we haven't discussed the views of all those who make precise reckonings of being and not [being], we've done enough on that score.
- An account; a reason; a motive; a sake; a 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.
- 1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 306:
- The local village priest is expected to pass through the Holi bonfire, which, in the opinion of the faithful, cannot burn him. Indeed he holds his land rent-free simply on the score of his being fire-proof.
- 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.
- 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.
- (US, slang, crime) A criminal act, especially:
- A robbery.
- Let's pull a score!
- 2022, Matt Reeves, Peter Craig, The Batman:
- Batman: Dangerous crowd you're stealing from.
Catwoman: Jesus. Is this how you get your kicks, hon? Sneaking up on girls in the dark?
Batman: Is that why you work in the club? It was all just a score?
- A bribe paid to a police officer.
- An illegal sale, especially of drugs.
- He made a big score.
- A prostitute's client.
- A robbery.
- (originally US, vulgar, slang) A sexual conquest.
- 1976, William C. Thomas, Cat Murkil and the Silks, spoken by Punch:
- Ah, who gives a shit? The only score I'm interested in is the one I might make if some foxy chicks start pilin' outta there.
- (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.
Usage notes
edit- As a quantity, a score is counted as any other unit: ten score, twelve score, fourteen score, etc. (or tenscore, twelvescore). There is no word for 202; rather, twenty score is used, and twice that forty score.
Synonyms
edit- (prostitute's client): see Thesaurus:prostitute's client
Derived terms
edit- Apgar score
- Baux score
- box score
- buzz score
- by the score
- credit score
- cricket score
- even the score
- film score
- fourscore
- four score and seven years ago
- four score and ten
- four score seven years ago
- full score
- game score
- GERP score
- Gleason score
- go off at score
- high score
- high score table
- high-score table
- hi-score
- keep score
- know the score
- major score
- no score
- no-score draw
- on that score
- on this score
- on what score
- outscore
- overscore
- pain score
- pay off old scores
- Q score
- quit scores
- run up the score
- score attack
- scorecard
- score-draw
- score draw
- scoreless
- scores
- score-settling
- score sheet
- score-sheet
- scores of
- score string
- settle a score
- settle the score
- threescore
- three score and fifth
- three score and ten
- underscore
- Wilson score interval
- Z score
- z-score
Translations
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Verb
editscore (third-person singular simple present scores, present participle scoring, simple past and past participle scored)
- (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.
- (intransitive) To record the tally of points for a game, a match, or an examination.
- (transitive, intransitive) 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."
- To earn points in a game.
- It is unusual for a team to score a hundred goals in one game.
- Pelé scores again!
- 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport[2]:
- And White Hart Lane was stunned when Rovers scored just five minutes after the restart in front of their away following.
- 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.
- 1996 March 5, Mike Judge, “Substitute”, in Beavis and Butthead, season 6, episode 18, Mr. Van Driessen (actor):
- No, Butthead, that's my point. You didn't score. You got a zero.
- (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!
- (slang) To acquire or gain.
- 1971, Jagger–Richards, Marianne Faithfull (lyrics and music), “Sister Morphine”, in Sticky Fingers, performed by The Rolling Stones:
- What am I doing in this place? / Why does the doctor have no face? / Oh, I can't crawl across the floor / Ah, can't you see, Sister Morphine, I'm trying to score
- 1975, Andy Mackay, Bryan Ferry (lyrics and music), “Love Is the Drug”, performed by Roxy Music:
- I jump up, bubble up, what's in store? / Love is the drug and I need to score
- I scored some drugs last night.
- Did you score tickets for the concert?
- (US, crime, slang, of a police officer) To extract a bribe.
- (vulgar, slang) To obtain a sexual favor.
- Chris finally scored with Pat last week.
- 1982, “Prowlin'”, in Domenic Bugatti, Frank Muskeer, Christopher Cerf (lyrics), Grease 2:
- Gotta find a chick who'll give you more / Well, there's a spot that I've discovered / Where a guy's guaranteed to score
- (transitiveb) To rate; to evaluate the quality of.
- Critics scored the game 92%.
- 2007, Cross-Cultural Urban Design: Global or Local Practice?, page 197:
- this was the case for most students, who scored it highly (medians of 4 with many scores of 5)
- (transitive, music, film) To provide (a film, etc.) with a musical score.
- 1974, New York Magazine, volume 7, number 45, page 98:
- Godfather II is nothing like ready. It is not yet scored, and thus not mixed. There remain additional shooting, looping, editing.
- 2023 August 10, Adrian Horton, “Robbie Robertson, member of the Band, dies at age 80”, in The Guardian, UK:
- Robertson scored several of Scorsese’s films, including Raging Bull, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman.
Conjugation
editinfinitive | (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 |
Synonyms
edit- (to cut a groove in a surface): groove, notch
- (to record the score): keep, score, tally
- (to earn points in a game):
- (to achieve a score in a test):
- (to acquire or gain): come by, earn, obtain; see also Thesaurus:receive
- (to extract a bribe): shake down
- (to obtain a sexual favor): pull
- (to provide with a musical score): soundtrack
Derived terms
editDescendants
edit- →⇒ Irish: scóráil
Translations
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Interjection
editscore
- (US, slang) An acknowledgement of success.
See also
editReferences
edit- Tom Dalzell, The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English, 2008, page 846
- “score n.3”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
Anagrams
editDanish
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editscore c (singular definite scoren, plural indefinite scorer)
Declension
editVerb
editscore
- score a goal/point
- land (to acquire; to secure)
- (slang) steal
- persuade (someone) to have sex with oneself [from 1959]
Conjugation
editDerived terms
editDutch
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editscore m (plural scores, diminutive scoretje n)
- score (number of points earned)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFrench
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editscore m (plural scores)
- score (in a sport, game)
Derived terms
editDescendants
edit- → Romanian: scor n
Further reading
edit- “score”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
editMiddle English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editInherited from Old English scoru, from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editscore (plural scores)
Descendants
editReferences
edit- “scōr(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norwegian Bokmål
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editVia English score, from Old Norse skor. Related to Old Norse skera (modern Norwegian Bokmål skjære).
Noun
editscore m (definite singular scoren, indefinite plural scorer, definite plural scorene)
- a score
Verb
editscore (imperative scor, present tense scorer, passive scores, simple past and past participle scora or scoret, present participle scorende)
- to score (earn points in a game)
Derived terms
editReferences
editNorwegian Nynorsk
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editBorrowed from English score. Doublet of skòr.
Noun
editscore m (definite singular scoren, indefinite plural scorar, definite plural scorane)
- a score
Verb
editscore (present tense scorar, past tense scora, past participle scora, passive infinitive scorast, present participle scorande, imperative score/scor)
- to score (earn points in a game)
References
edit- “score” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Spanish
editEtymology
editUnadapted borrowing from English score.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editscore m (plural scores)
Usage notes
editAccording to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Yola
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English score, from Old English scoru.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editscore
- score
- 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 94:
- An aar was a hundereth lauckeen vowre score.
- And there was a hundred, lacking four score;
- 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 94:
- Aar was Parick o Dearmoth, an dhen score besidh,
- There was Patrick o Deormod, and ten score beside,
- 1867, “DR. RUSSELL ON THE INHABITANTS AND DIALECT OF THE BARONY OF FORTH”, in APPENDIX, page 130:
- Th'ar was a hunnert, lackin a score,
- [There was a hundred, lacking a score,]
References
edit- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 94
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- (cut)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
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- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English 2-syllable words
- Rhymes:English/ɔː(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɔː(ɹ)/1 syllable
- English lemmas
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- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
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- British English
- English slang
- en:Gambling
- en:Music
- American English
- en:Crime
- English vulgarities
- Regional English
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Film
- English interjections
- English cardinal numbers
- en:Historical numbers
- en:Sports
- en:Twenty
- en:Units of measure
- Danish terms borrowed from English
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- Danish lemmas
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- Danish terms spelled with C
- Danish common-gender nouns
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- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from English
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- nb:Sports
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- (cut)
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- Rhymes:Spanish/oɾ
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- Spanish lemmas
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- es:Sports
- Yola terms inherited from Middle English
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