score

From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear. (For twenty: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.)

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: skôr, IPA^(key): /skɔː/
• (General American) enPR: skôrʹ, IPA^(key): /skɔɹ/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: skōrʹ, IPA^(key): /sko(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /skoə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

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 (number).
   • 1863 November 19, Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, based on the signed "Bliss Copy"

     "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."

   Some words have scores of meanings.

5. A distance of twenty yards, in ancient archery and gunnery.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

6. A weight of twenty pounds.
7. (music) The written form of a musical composition showing all instrumental and vocal parts below each other.
8. (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.

9. Subject.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 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.

10. Account; reason; motive; sake; behalf.
    • Hudibras

      But left the trade, as many more / Have lately done on the same score.

    • Dryden

      You act your kindness in Cydria's score.

11. A notch or incision; especially, one that is made as a tally mark; hence, a mark, or line, made for the purpose of account.
    • Shakespeare

      Whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used.

12. An account or reckoning; account of dues; bill; hence, indebtedness.
    • Shakespeare

      He parted well, and paid his score.

13. (US, crime, slang) A robbery; a criminal act.

    Let's pull a score!

14. (US, crime, slang) A bribe paid to a police officer.
15. (US, crime, slang) An illegal sale, especially of drugs.

    He made a big score.

16. (US, crime, slang) A prostitute's client.
17. (US, vulgar, slang) A sexual conquest.

• (prostitute's client): see Thesaurus:prostitute's client

score (third-person singular simple present 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 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. (transitive, intransitive) To obtain something desired.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 50

     "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!

      • 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport‎:

        And White Hart Lane was stunned when Rovers scored just five minutes after the restart in front of their away following.

   2. To achieve (a score) in e.g. a test.
      • 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. (slang) To acquire or gain.

      I scored some drugs last night.

      Did you score tickets for the concert?

   4. (US, crime, slang, of a police officer) To extract a bribe.
   5. (vulgar, slang) To obtain a sexual favor.

      Chris finally scored with Pat last week.

4. (transitive) 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.

score!

1. (US, slang) Acknowledgement of success

• grade

• Tom Dalzell, The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English, 2008, page 846

• Corse, Crose, Secor, Sorce, ceros, cores, corse, creos, ocres

Borrowed from English score.

• IPA^(key): /skoːrə/, [ˈsɡ̊oːɐ]

score c (singular definite scoren, plural indefinite scorer)

1. A score, a number of points earned.

score

1. score a goal/point
2. land (to acquire; to secure)
3. (slang) steal
4. persuade (someone) to have sex with oneself [from 1959]

Borrowed from English score.

• IPA^(key): /ˈskoː.rə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sco‧re

score m (plural scores, diminutive scoretje n)

1. score (number of points earned)

• scorebord

• scoren

Borrowed from English score.

• IPA^(key): /skɔʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

score m (plural scores)

1. score (in a sport, game)

• scorer

• “score” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• corse, Corse
• ocres

• (of noun) skår
• (of verb) skåre

Via English score, from Old Norse skor. Related to Old Norse skera (modern Norwegian Bokmål skjære).

score m (definite singular scoren, indefinite plural scorer, definite plural scorene)

1. a score

score (imperative scor, present tense scorer, passive scores, simple past and past participle scora or scoret, present participle scorende)

1. to score (earn points in a game)

• scorer
• scoring
• scoringsposisjon
• scoringssjanse

• “score” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “score” in The Ordnett Dictionary

• (of noun) skår
• (of verb) skåre, skåra
• (of verb) scora

From English score

score m (definite singular scoren, indefinite plural scorar, definite plural scorane)

1. a score

score (present tense scorar, past tense scora, past participle scora, passive infinitive scorast, present participle scorande, imperative scor/score)

1. to score (earn points in a game)

• “score” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From English score.

score m (plural scores)

1. score (in sports)