score

▪ I. score, n.
    (skɔə(r))
    Forms: 1 scoru, 3–6 scor, 4–5 schore, 4–6 skor, 4–7 skore, 5 Sc. scoyr, skowre, 5, 7 scoure, 6 scoore, Sc. scower, skoir, 6–7 scoare, Sc. scoir, 3– score.
    [Late OE. scoru str. fem. (sense 16), a. ON. skor str. fem., notch, tally, the number of twenty (cf. skora wk. fem., notch):—OTeut. type *skurā, f. *skur-, wk. grade of *sker- to cut: see shear v.]
    I. A cut, notch, mark.
    1. a. † A crack, crevice (obs.); a cut, notch, or scratch; a line drawn with a sharp instrument.

c 1400 Rom. Rose 2660 Than shal thou go the dore bifore, If thou maist fynde any score, Or hole, or reft, what ever it were. 1570 Levins Manip. 174/11 A skore, crenale. a 1585 Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 555 With scartes and scores, athort his frozen front. 1792 J. Belknap Hist. New-Hampsh. III. 113 To procure the sap, an incision is made by two scores, an inch and a half, or two inches deep. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 783/2 To make a score on the future angles of the box in order to make the stuff bend readily.

    b. Naut. and Mech. (a) The groove of a block or dead-eye round which the rope passes; (b) a notch or groove made in a piece of timber or metal to allow another piece to be neatly fitted into it.

1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 29 The cross-trees are let into the trestle-trees, with scores. 1815 Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), Score of a Dead-Eye, is the hole through which the rope passes. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 155 Tabling, letting one piece of timber into another by alternate scores or projections. 1874 Thearle Naval Archit. 16 A score, the width of which is equal to the siding of the post. 1901 J. Black's Carp. & Build., Scaffolding 89 This is called the ‘strap’ and lies in the ‘score’, or channelled part of the block.

    c. local. ‘A vertical indentation in a hill; a gangway down a cliff; a cutting through a ridge of hills’ (E.D.D.); spec. in East Anglia, a narrow, steep path or street leading to the sea. Used esp. in place-names. Cf. ON. skor in sense ‘a rift in a rock or precipice’.
    The place-names Syrithescore and Scourton are recorded from the 13th century and c 1550 respectively (A. H. Smith, Place-Names of East Riding of Yorkshire (1937) 328; E. Ekwall, Place-Names of Lancashire (1922) 164).

1790 E. Gillingwater Hist. Acct. Lowestoft viii. 356 There are several of these passages in Lowestoft called scores, leading from the High-Street to the sea side, such as the Swan Score, Salter's Score, Rant's Score, &c. 1807 J. Grierson Delineations of St. Andrews iii. 104 That space of ground which is now converted into a public walk, and known by the name of the Scores. 1835 J. D. Carrick Laird of Logan ii. 271 The hail place was in a perfect fizz..frae the head of the Causeyside till the Score. 1858 Hist. & Topogr. Handbk. Lowestoft i. 3 On the land side are many narrow streets or lanes branching off into the country; whilst seaward there are, at short intervals, steep and narrow passages down the cliff, formed into steps, and leading to the Denes. These passages are known locally and technically as Scores. 1929 H. Meredith E. Anglia iii. 95 The Scores are Lowestoft's counterpart of Yarmouth's more famous Rows. 1958 E. Anglian Mag. Feb. 193/1 East Anglian cities and towns have each and all their picturesque narrow ways... The scores of Lowestoft have a unique character added to their picturesqueness in that they are steep as well as narrow. 1961 Scottish Studies V. 14 The Score is the downfall of the west edge of Edinburgh Castle.

    2. a. A line drawn; a stroke, mark; a line drawn as a boundary.
    The sense, though in our examples not found in literal use earlier than the 16th c., seems to be old, as the fig. phrases in b apparently belong to it.

1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. lxxviii, Prosperitie in eird is bot a dreme, Or like as man war steppand ouir ane scoir. 1603 Philotus cxxv, Trowis thow to draw me ouir the scoir, Fals feind with thy alluring. 1681 Gib in Wodrow Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot. (1722) II. App. lxxiii. 80 Drawing Scores betwixt the Books of the Bible. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. iii. 144/2 Feathers of a Ducks Wing, or such like..to wipe off a superfluous score made in a draught by the Charcoal. 1710–11 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 Feb., It was that ugly score [foot-n. A crease in the sheet] in the paper that made me mistake. 1783 Burns Rantin', Rovin' Robin v, I see by ilka score and line, This chap will dearly like our kin'. 1818 Scott Rob Roy i, Draw a score through the tops of your t's. 1836 Comic Almanack Sept. (1870) 63 We've chalked a score on every door Of publican or sinner. 1859 Darwin Life & Lett. (1887) II. 171, I hope you will mark your copy with scores.

    b. Phrases. † out of score, beyond the mark, excessively, unreasonably (frequent in R. Brunne); † over score, over the mark, aside.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6872 Þe aumenere was wroth þerfore, Þat he asked so oute of skore. Ibid. 11225 But leuer ys me my mouþe to steke Þan y spak oȝ t oute of skore. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 496 As now war tyme to schift the wers ouer scoir.

    † c. ? A track, trace of footsteps. Obs.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3377 To trauersen hem al ouer þere score, & passe þe Romayns wel byfore. Ibid. 13694 After hym his folk held wel þe score.

    3. a. spec. The ‘scratch’ or line at which a marksman stands when shooting at a target, or on which the competitors stand before beginning a race.

1513 Douglas æneis v. vi. 70 He suld full sone haue skippit furth befoir And left in dowt quha first coyme to the scoir. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xx. 69 Stand to, thair⁓foir, fyle not the scoir, But all togidder draw. c 1880 in Greener Gun (1881) 506 In case of breech-loaders, the party called to the score shall not place his cartridge in the gun until he arrives at the score.

    b. Phrases. to go off (set off, start) at score, of a horse, to make a sudden dash at full speed; fig. of a person, to break out suddenly into impetuous speech or action. So to go off full score, to keep on at a score.

c 1800 R. Cumberland John De Lancaster (1809) II. 95 John and his steed were in the same humour for a start at score. 1807 [E. Goulburn] Epwell Hunt 117 Resolv'd at all Hazards to follow Bob Canning; To accomplish which End he kept on at a Score. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, Madge no sooner received the catch-word, than she vindicated Ratcliffe's sagacity by setting off at score with the song: ‘O sleep ye sound, Sir James, she said’. 1833 Moore Mem. (1854) VI. 309 Talking of a paragraph lately which stated that all the Church dignitaries meant to resign.., he went off at score on the sad state we should be reduced to by such a resignation. 1834 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 1016 Start at score and make play we must, if we were now to resume the contest. 1848 Dickens Dombey vi, Lest the black-eyed should go off at score and turn sarcastic. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting iii. 64 His horse, Blesbok, went off at score, and followed the spoor as accurately as any dog. 1867 M. Arnold Celtic Lit. 71 After the mediæval touch of the visit to the buttery in the land of the Trinity, he goes off at score: ‘I have been instructed in the whole system of the universe [etc.]’. 1869 ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O.V.H. xxxiv, The slackened rein..encouraged the gray to take a final kick and fling, and then set off at score up the slope. 1900 Pollok & Thom Sports Burma iii. 99 The bull picked himself up and went off full score.

    c. Curling. = hog-score.

1862 Chamb. Encycl. III. 368/2 (Curling), At a certain distance from each of the tees, a score—the hog-score—is drawn across the ice. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 713/2 (Curling), Every stone to be a hog which does not clear this score.

    4. A line that crosses out or cancels something.

a 1756 Pennecuik's Collect. Sc. Poems 120 A roll of sins hath got the clergy's score.

    † 5. pl. as the name of a game. Obs.

1710 Ruddiman Gloss. to Douglas' æneis s.v. Skore, The word score, is..most used at the long Bowls, which are sometimes call'd the Scores, because they make draughts or impressions in the ground where they are to begin and leave off.

    6. Mus. A written or printed piece of concerted music, in which all the vocal and instrumental parts are noted on a series of staves one under the other.
    Commonly stated to be so called from the practice (not now always followed) of connecting the related staves by ‘scores’ or lines continuing the bars.

1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3748/4 The Score of Musick for the Fairy Queen. 1752 Avison Mus. Express. Advt., Music is said to be in Score, when all the Parts are distinctly wrote and set under each other, so as the Eye, at one View, may take in all the various Contrivances of the Composer. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 360 He..sells accent, tone And emphasis in score. 1785 Geo. III in Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1862) III. 247 The King has just received the copies of the three operas M{supr}{sups}. Delany so obligingly borrow'd for him. He therefore returns the three scores. 1845 E. Holmes Mozart 13 This concerto was written with a full score of accompaniments, and even trumpets and drums. 1883 Rockstro in Grove's Dict. Mus. III. 427/1 The most important varieties [of scores] are (I.) the Vocal Score; (II.) the Orchestral, or Full Score; (III.) the Supplementary Score, or Partitino; (IV.) the Organ, Harpsichord, or Pianoforte Score; (V.) the Compressed Score; and (VI.) the Short Score. Ibid. 434/1 The term Short Score is indiscriminately applied to Organ and Pianoforte Scores of works originally written with Orchestral Accompaniments; to Compressed Scores; and to maimed transcriptions, in which the leading Parts only are given in extenso.

    b. A musical composition with its distribution of parts.

1881 F. J. Crowest Phases Mus. Eng. 295 The London Musical Society has set itself the task of familiarising English people with those scores which are either little known, or which have not had a hearing in this country.

    c. spec. (A piece of) music composed for a film; the musical part of the sound-track of a film; formerly, the background music and effects of a silent film.

1927 Kinematograph Year Book 32 Scores to films can be recorded by the world's greatest orchestras, under the baton of conductors impossible to obtain for motion picture houses. 1935 R. Spottiswoode Grammar of Film v. 191 The score composed by Edmund Meisel for Ten Days. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Film Music i. 23 Among the more celebrated film score..are those by Edmund Meisel for Eisenstein's films The Battleship Potemkin and October. 1965 Movie Summer 40/2 Jerry Bresler had re-edited the film..adding a score that was far from Peckinpah's choosing. 1976 R. Sanders in D. Villiers Next Year in Jerusalem 212 Irving Berlin..wrote the best over-all score of his career, Annie Get Your Gun.

    7. Weaving. = beer n.³

1712 [see beer n.3]. 1726 Act 13 Geo. I, c. 26 §13 So as to distinguish the Number of biers or scores of Threads in the breadth of the said Cloth.

    8. A cut or slash, as with a whip.

1882 J. T. Morse Jr. John Q. Adams iii. (1885) 230 There was scarce a back in Congress that did not at one time or another feel the score of his cutting lash.

    II. Notch cut for record, tally, reckoning.
    † 9. a. A notch cut in a stick or tally, used to mark numbers in keeping accounts; also the tally itself.

c 1460 Launfal 419 All that Launfal had borwyth before Gyfre, be tayle and be score, Yald hyt well and fyne. c 1460 Bk. Curtasye 416 in Babees Bk., Yf þo koke wolde say þat were more, Þat is þo cause þat he hase it in skore. 1530 Palsgr. 268/1 Score on a tayle, taylles. 1538 Elyot Dict., Crene [1545 Crenæ],..the scores whiche men vnlerned do make on styckes for their remembrance. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Crena, a notche in a skore. Ibid., Tessera,..a tayle or score, wheron the number of thynges deliuered is marked. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 38 Whereas before, our Fore-fathers had no other Bookes but the Score and the Tally, thou hast caused printing to be vs'd.

    b. Games. A mark made for the purpose of recording a point or the like. Cf. chalk n. 5.

1680 Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 102 Lanterloo... Having dealt set up five scores or chalks; and then proceed forwards in your Game. Ibid., Every deal rub off a score, and for every trick you win set up a score by you till the first scores are out, to remember you how many tricks you have won in the several deals in the Game. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. iii. 84 It is called a run, and one notch or score is made upon the tally towards the game. Ibid. iii. vii. 203 One chalk, or score, is reckoned for every fair pin; and the game of skittles consists in obtaining thirty-one chalks precisely.

    10. a. A record or account (of items of uniform amount to be charged or credited) kept by means of tallies, or (in later use) by means of marks made on a board (with chalk), on a slate, or the like. Now chiefly, the row of chalk marks on a door, or of strokes on a slate, which in rural alehouses used to serve to record the quantity of liquor consumed on credit by a regular frequenter. Hence occas. transf., a customer's account for goods obtained on credit.

a 1400 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 362 Ȝif þæt þe axkere bryngeþ skore oþer wryt, and aske þe berynge y-hole-cheche... Whos paye y-maked by skore oþer by scryt oþer by sywete, so þ{supt} he bere tayle oþer scryt, to preue hit vp-on hure nature. c 1421 26 Pol. Poems 119 Þe fendes redy my rolle to rede, Þe countretayle to shewe, þe score. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 255 And he anon radly laft all his scores, and cownturs, and his bokes, and suet Cryst forþe. 1483 Cath. Angl. 324/1 A score, epimeridia. 1591 R. Percivall Sp. Dict., Tablilla, writing tables, a score. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 80 There shall bee no mony, all shall eate and drinke on my score. 1614 Ravenscroft in Festive Songs (Percy Soc.) 40 When all is gone we have no more, Then let us set it on the score, Or chalke it up behinde the dore. 1648 Crashaw Steps to Temple Matt. xxiii, The stones that on his Tombe doe lye Keep but the score of them that made him dye. a 1704 T. Brown Laconics Wks. 1711 IV. 20 He ought to have preach'd against..rubbing out of Ale-house Scores. 1837 Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) II. i. 9 A familiar visitor of the house, who might be supposed to have his regular score at the bar. 1867 Lowell Fitz Adam's Story 388 These paid no money, yet for them he..chalked behind the door With solemn face a visionary score. 1887 Jessopp Arcady i. 19 Formerly every man had a score at the village shop.

    † b. in, upon, on (the) score: in debt. to run into scores or in score, to run or go on or upon (the) score: to incur debts. upon the score of: indebted to. Also on score, upon the score: on credit. Obs.

1568 U. Fulwell Like will to like E ij, But now my masters you are on the score. 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. iii. 11 in Holinshed, The citie merchants not vttering their wares, but to such as had not redy chinkes, and therevpon forced to run on y⊇ score, were very much empouerished. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier G j, If any chance to go on the skore, you skore him when he is a sleepe. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. ii. 25 If she say I am not xiiii d on the score for sheere Ale, score me vp for the lyingst knaue in Christendome. 1602 Rowlands Tis Merrie 11 There's many deale vpon the score for wine, When they should pay forget the Vint'ners Syne. 1615 R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 57 He had stolne and pawnd his companions aparell,..and was gon upon the score in divers howses. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, The Size iv, Those have their hopes: these what they have renounce, And live on score. 1649 Milton Eikon. v. 42 He had..begger'd both himself and the Public; and besides had left us upon the score of his needy Enemies, for what it cost them in thir own defence against him. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. i. vii. 66 Seneca reports of a Pythagorean Philosopher at Athens, who having run upon the score for his shoos at a shop there [etc.]. 1658 H. Cromwell in Thurloe St. Papers VI. 820 The country, to whom the army is in score, will be all in a flame. 1659 Gentl. Calling (1696) 75 'Tis become so fashionable a thing to run into Scores, and so unfashionable to pay them [etc.]. 1667 Pepys Diary 30 Dec., I perceive he is known there, and do run upon the score for plays. 1685 Evelyn Mrs. Godolphin 195 Every Saturday she used to sum up, and never went on score. 1702 Yalden æsop at Crt. iii. 43 See, injur'd Britain, thy unhappy case,..If fond of the expensive pain, When eighteen millions run on score: Let them clap mufflers on again, And physick thee of eighteen more. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxv, I..drank while I had money left, and ran in score when anybody would trust me.

    c. In colloq. phrases, as to go over the score (chiefly Sc.): to act (esp. drink) immoderately; to have a few over the score (see few a. 2 f): to drink more at one time than one should.

1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess ii. 100 She thinks ye hae ga'en o'er the score. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes, Reveries, & Reminiscences 50 Lest some o' the nickums should gang owre the score. 1915 J. L. Waugh Betty Grier 157 He gangs fairly ower the score baith wi' drinkin' himsel' an' treatin' ithers. 1951 N. M. Gunn Well at World's End xviii. 145 ‘You know how, when you have had a few over the score and you may not trust your legs, your brain remains as clear—’ ‘I know,’ said Peter.

    11. a. The sum recorded to a customer's debit in a ‘score’ (sense 10); the amount of an innkeeper's bill or reckoning. Also, † a debt due to a tradesman for goods obtained on credit (obs.).

1600 Ball. Coll. Acc. (MS.), Item, paid to Warde the Baker for 2 skores dewe in Mr. More's yeare, 8 li. 18 s. 9 d. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 253 After he scores, he neuer payes the score. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 133 Chauke me on Vinters, and for aw thy skore, Let great words pay for aw, still run on more. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Country Life 14 Or how to pay thy hinds and clear all scores. 1667 Pepys Diary 6. Apr., Away to the Exchange, and mercers and drapers, up and down to pay all my scores. 1675 Kidder Charity Directed 31 How often do men contend at a Tavern who shall pay the score. 1677 Otway Cheats of Scapin ii. i, Some Scores that are due to the Landlady. 1687 Sedley Bellamira v. i. 53, I have been in the Country, and have brought wherewith to pay old Scores, and will deal here⁓after with ready Mony. 1701 Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 79 Hasten over rents, and all thou canst, for many call upon me for old scores. 1715 Prior Down-Hall 96 When in the morning Matt ask'd for the score, John kindly had paid it the evening before. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. ix, After having paid our score. 1761 Brit. Mag. II. 626 He had run a score at the public house, which he had no mind to discharge. 1766 Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 9 If..you think I can afford to quit scores with the little Doctor, I shall be obliged to you if you will do it forthwith. 1807 [Ireland] Mod. Ship of Fools 236 Or, when in school, neglecting book, Or, running scores with pastry cook, That breech should feel the twitch of birch. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 230, I agreed that he should pay the score at our next meeting. 1886 Contemp. Rev. July 80 The week's score at the public-house is paid up and a fresh one started.

    b. fig., esp. in certain phrases. to clear, pay, quit a score or scores: to requite an obligation; sometimes, to revenge an injury, to ‘be even with’ some one. † to cut the score, cut scores: to forgive a debt. Also to pay off, rub out, etc., old scores.

a 1617 Bayne On Eph. (1658) 170 God cuts all scores betwixt him and his children. 1634 H. Sydenham Serm. (1637) 70 That that Justice which is conferr'd on them, consists rather in the participation of Christs merits, who cut the score, than in any perfection of Vertues. 1672 Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada v. ii, Yet, forced by need, ere I can clear that score, I like ill debtors, come to borrow more. 1690 Locke Govt. i. ix. §90 To the Grandfather, there is due a long Score of Care and Expences laid out upon the Breeding and Education of his Son. 1707 Norris Treat. Humility vi. 252 Which she readily accepts, and perhaps does not make so much haste to quit scores, as Pride does. 1775 Sheridan St. Patrick's Day i. i, Are you sure you do nothing to quit scores with them? 1787 ‘P. Pindar’ Ode upon Ode (ed. 5) 25 A pretty Way of rubbing out old Scores! c 1863 T. Taylor Ticket-of-Leave Man iii. 56 There's the satisfaction of doing one's duty..but there's something better than that... Paying off old scores. 1913 E. Phillpotts Widecombe Fair xxx. 236 This evening..promised good opportunity to pay off old scores. 1918 L. Strachey Eminent Victorians 67 The old scores, they found, were not to be paid off, but to be wiped out.

    12. [Originally a figurative use of sense 10.] Account, reason, ground, sake, motive. In phrases on, upon the score (of): by reason of, for the sake of, with regard to.

1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 346, I presume not to expect this for my own sake and meerly upon the score of Christian love. 1651 Evelyn Diary 6 Sept., He..embark'd for Scotland with some men he had raised, who..were all..imprison'd on y⊇ Marq. of Montrose's score. a 1654 Selden Table Talk (Arb.) 70 By reason..their great Grandfather did not do it, upon that old Score they think they ought not to do it. 1654 Dickson Explic. Ps. cxxix. 1 (1655) 263 The persecution of former enemies is imputed and put upon the score of present persecutors. 1655 Clarke Papers (Camden) III. 3 The House of Peeres was never yet denied by them to be dissolved upon the like scoare. 1661 Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 244 Divers that first believe the Scripture but upon the Church's score, are afterwards by acquaintedness brought to believe the Scripture upon its own score. 1667 Dryden Ind. Emp. i. ii, I could not do it on my Honour's score. 1722 De Foe Plague (1884) 250 Men..began to be over-easie upon that Score. 1751 Affecting Narr. Wager 47 The Crew..were however on that Score implacably incensed against the Captain. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. 51 All persecution and oppression of weak consciences, on the score of religious persuasions, are highly unjustifiable. 1802 Mrs. J. West Infidel Father I. 231 An eminent solicitor..whom it was fashionable to consult on the score of settlements. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. x. (1876) II. 269 It was necessary to summon a parliament on the usual score of obtaining money. 1847 Marryat Childr. N. Forest xviii, Master Heatherstone knows more on that score than any one. 1859 Mill Liberty iv. 165 Other countries are not asked to..release any portion of their inhabitants from their own laws on the score of Mormonite opinions. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius iv. 59 You have some right to flatter yourself on that score. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. xlvi. II. 198 This state of things..disposes the men on one side to reject a proposal of the other side on the score, not of its demerits, but of the quarter it proceeds from. 1907 Hodges Elem. Photogr. 13 Much trouble on this score will be avoided.

    † 13. A list, enumeration; number as counted. Also by score: (after a numeral) by tale, precisely so many. Obs.

c 1325 Chron. Eng. 253 (Ritson), That were sixti yer by score Er then Crist were ybore. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 1052 So that hereby wee may iudge what great store the Lorde setteth by Infantes, and learne not to wype them out of the skore of Gods people. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xxx. iii, Thou would'st not sett me in their score, Whom death to his cold boosome drawes. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ix. 21 My lambes doe every yeare increase their score.

    14. Games. The record or register of points made by both sides during the progress of a game or match; also the number of points made by a side or individual. to get the score: to obtain the highest number of runs (in a cricket-match).

1742 Hoyle Whist 8 If a Revoke happens to be made, the adverse Party may take down 3 Points from the Scores, or add 3 Points to his own Score, or take 3 of his Adversary's Tricks; the Revoke takes place of any other Score of the Game. Ibid. 68 This Method of Play may be made use of at any Score of the Game, except at 4 and 9. 1778 ― Games 74 Score of the Game is the Number of Points set up, ten of which make a Game. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Sutherl. (Colburn) 33 The care of the score [at billiards] was solely confided to the charge of the tall gentleman in the stockinet pantaloons. 1837 Dickens Pickw. vii, The score of the Dingley Dellers was as blank as their faces. 1850 ‘Bat’ Cricketer's Man. 98 It was on this occasion..that Mr. Ward obtained the unprecedented score of 278 runs in one innings. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxx, It was true that she liked keeping the score at cricket. 1862 Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 20 Hogsflesh (by the score) bowled in the second innings of Kent, but he is not inserted among the batsmen on the Hambledon side. Ibid. 225 John Small, sen. who got the score in the second innings of Hampshire. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. x, The belief in both naturally grew stronger as the shooting went on, for she promised to achieve one of the best scores. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 578/2 (Cricket), The score was kept by notching each individual run on a stick. 1883 R. W. Dixon Mano ii. viii. 95 The town in this game made the losing score.

    b. Phr. to make a score off one's own bat: see bat n.² 3 c.

1869 Trollope He knew, etc. xii. (1878) 67 Do you know the meaning of making a score off your own bat, Martha?

    c. transf. Psychol. A numerical record of the marks allotted to individuals in the measurement of abilities, capacity to learn, or in the assessment of personality.

1910 E. L. Thorndike in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XXI. 485 (caption) Scores reduced to single variables by allowance for examples wrong. 1929 F. N. Freeman in C. Murchison Found. Exper. Psychol. xviii. 722 These two measures..do not give the same learning curve, or the same curve when the scores are plotted by ages or grades. 1951 T. Hunt in J. S. Gray Psychol. in Use (rev. ed.) x. 421 This test underwent extensive validation by study of the relationship between the test scores of students and their subsequent performance in the medical schools. 1977 P. J. Dunham Exper. Psychol. ix. 240 A score of 10 representing a very anxious individual.

    d. fig. The essential point or crux of a matter; the state of affairs, the (present) situation; how matters stand; the full facts (about, on, etc. someone or something); freq. in phrases, as to know the score; to ask, realize, etc., what the score is; what's the score; etc. colloq.

1938 D. Nowinson in Better English Oct. 8/1 Dope..a guy who doesn't know the score. 1939 Time 16 Oct. 101/2 But when Holger begins to long for home and daughter, Anita, realizing what the score is, runs off to Paris to study. 1948 G. H. Johnston Death takes Small Bites i. 16 Why don't you speak to some people who can really tell you the score? 1950 E. Hemingway Across River xxxiii. 250 It leaves a core of certain un-killed characters who know what the score is. 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie xii. 121, I asked Ike what the score was on pushing in Mexico city. He said it was impossible. 1958 P. Kemp No Colours or Crest iv. 68 You were fully justified in breaking off the action when you did, in view of the score at the time. 1958 P. Scott Mark of Warrior ii. 176 ‘What's the score about Havildar Baksh?’ ‘He's a prisoner.’ 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself iii. 234, I was out of fashion and that was the score; that was all the score. 1962 J. D. Salinger Franny & Zooey 167 You've been around schools long enough to know the score. 1971 N. Stacey Who Cares? xvii. 284 At least he had the courage to tell me the score as far as I was concerned, so that I did not waste time yearning and hoping. 1977 A. Scholefield Venom iii. 86 You didn't ask the Boss what the score was, he told you.

    15. colloq. [From the verb.] a. lit. in games: An act of ‘scoring’ or gaining a point or points. b. fig. A successful ‘hit’ in debate or argument.

1844 Mardon Billiards 94 For should he play it slowly and miss the score, he will..leave a certain canon for his opponent. 1873 Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 301 This position gives the striker such command over the balls that it is almost impossible not to leave a score. Ibid. 386 A miss should be given so as to leave a difficult score for the adversary. 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 675/2 (Billiards), No score can be reckoned for a foul stroke. 1901 Scotsman 15 Mar. 7/4 A loud cheer signified that..this was a distinct score. 1901 S. Paget Mem. Sir J. Paget ii. 407 An admirable ‘score’ that he made at Harewood Place.

    c. The money or goods obtained by means of a successful crime. Criminals' slang.

1914 in Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 74. 1930 D. Runyon in Collier's 13 Sept. 7/4 We have a business proposition for Big Butch. It means a nice score for him. 1936 [see have v. 14 i]. 1956 H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy xi. 76 He's just a few months out of the jug and he hasn't turned a trick or made a score anywhere. 1977 New Yorker 22 Aug. 38/1 A million dollars from a computer crime is considered a respectable but not an extraordinary score.

    d. The action or process of obtaining a supply of narcotic drugs; a supplier of narcotic drugs. Cf. score v. 16 d. slang (orig. U.S.).

1951 [see hit n. 1 b]. 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie x. 97 ‘It's hard to find a score now,’ I said. ‘Most of them have gone away.’ 1976 Deakin & Willis Johnny go Home ii. 47 The whole day passes..going from fix to score, to ripping off enough money to support the habit.

    e. A prostitute's client (cf. score v. 16 f); also in homosexual use. slang.

1961 J. Rechy in Evergreen Rev. July–Aug. 15, I could spot the scores easily—the men who paid other men sexmoney. 1969 Jeremy I. iii. 23/1 The boy will then deliberately reveal and manipulate his erect penis, thereby exciting the score. 1972 G. Baxt Burning Sappho ix. 153, I..got my hot tail out of there. I heard the score yelling. 1976 ‘Trevanian’ Main iv. 66 She won't be able to make a score until dark, if then.

    III. A group of twenty.
    [Presumably from the practice, in counting sheep or large herds of cattle, of counting orally from 1 to 20, and making a ‘score’ (sense 9) or notch on a stick, before proceeding to count the next twenty.]
    16. a. A group or set of twenty. Primarily a n., const. of (in OE. gen. pl.), but owing to ellipsis and loss of inflexions often serving (when preceded by a, or in uninflected pl. by a numeral) as a numeral adj. (Cf. dozen, hundred, thousand, etc.)
    The combinations threescore and fourscore are common as mere archaistic synonyms for sixty and eighty; the similar combinations with other numerals are rarely used exc. when there is intentional division into groups of 20.

[a 1100 Bury St. Edm. Rec. in Napier Contrib. OE. Lexicogr. 56 Ðæt is..v scora [glossed quinquies uiginti] scæp..& viii score [octies uiginti] æcere ᵹesawen.] c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 101/13 Folke..bi manie scor to-gadere. a 1300 Cursor M. 3209 Sex scor and seuen yeir liued sarra. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 3099 (Kölbing) Wiþ him he brouȝt þritti score Wiȝt kniȝtes him bifore. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3492 Bot yhit þar er ful many ma Of veniel syns, be many a score. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 118 Heo makeþ men misdo moni score tymes. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xvii. (Martha) 52 Sewyne schore of fute & na ma. a 1400 Morte Arth. 2344 The taxe and the trebutte of tene schore wynteres. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2638 My fader was a philisofer, & of fele yeres, To the nowmber of nene skowre. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 483 Seuyne score of scheildis thai schew at ane sicht. 15.. Scot. Field 231 in Chetham Soc. Misc. II, There were killed of the Scottes moe than xij scower. 1583 Bp. Middleton Injunct. in 2nd Rep. Ritual Comm. (1868) 426/2 Excepte there bee at the leaste, three for euery score communicantes that bee in the Parishe. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 111 Shee may perhaps call him halfe a score knaues, or so. 1611 ― Cymb. iii. ii. 69 How many score of Miles may we well rid Twixt houre, and houre? 1645 Shetland Witch Trial in Hibbert Descr. Shetl. Isl. (1822) 600 At your returne they continuit with you, and conversit ut supra, als far back agane as scoir and threttein. a 1649 Winthrop New Eng. (1825) I. 286 They chose divers scores men, who [etc.]. 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3190/4, 41 stout Cambridgeshire Wethers, worth about 14 l. a Score. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 340 Six score thousand. a 1742 Somerville Yeom. Kent 82 Neighbours around, and cousins went By scores, to pay their compliment. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 69 (In the Street), I form'd a score different plans. 1775 C. Johnston Pilgrim 273 He taught him to..bend his body into half a score antic postures. 1800 Ld. Keith in Paget Papers (1896) I. 223 The inhabitants of Genoa Die by Scores of hunger. 1810 Crabbe Borough v, Till he had box'd up twelve score pounds at least. 1842 Macaulay Lays, Lake Regillus xxviii, And still stood all who saw them fall While men might count a score. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxiv, There were a score of generals now round Becky's chair. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. vii, I wished a round score of men.

    b. with ellipsis of years (referring to age). Now rare exc. in threescore and fourscore.

13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1019 He thoughte wel, at a score, He sscholde passi him before. 1900 H. Sutcliffe Shameless Wayne viii. (1905) 101 He died at two-score.

    17. A weight of twenty or twenty-one pounds, esp. used in weighing pigs or oxen.

c 1460 Towneley Myst. xiii. 631 As a shepe of sevyn skore he weyd in my fyst. 1766 Museum Rust. I. 475 To kill several hogs in a season, which shall weigh from eight to ten score. 1825 Cobbett Rural Rides 274 The thousands of scores of bacon and thousands of bushels of bread that have been eaten from the long oak table. 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby I. 217 At fifteen months old, they weigh about 28 score. 1858 Ulster Jrnl. Archæol. VI. 361 The meal came down to three thirteens the score. 1885 W. Westall Old Factory xix. 134, I'll send them a score of meal and half a score of flour and some milk.

    † 18. A distance of twenty paces. Obs.

1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 157 For I should se one streame wyth in a score on me. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1142/1 The trees were pulled up by the roots and cast twelve score off. 1588 Sir W. Wynter in Defeat Sp. Armada (Navy Rec. Soc.) II. 10 My fortune was to make choice to charge their starboard wing without shooting of any ordnance until we came within six score of them. 1591 Lyly Entert. Elvetham Proeme, Wks. 1902 I. 432 Other such buildings..fourteene score off from the house on a hill side. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. ii. 34 As easie, as a Canon will shoot point-blanke twelue score. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxvi. 331 At Markes full fortie score they vs'd to Prick and Roue. 1646 Eldred Gunners Glasse 71 Foure Demi-Culverings to the moule Rod or Pole, distant 53 score. 1672 H. More Brief Reply Pref. a 4 b, Wherein the Authors fancy..leaping over all boundaries of Church-Authority,..runs on at eleven-score, as if he were upon a warm scent, giving chase to some of his Platonical Idea's [sic].

    19. Coal-mining. (See quot. 1851.)

1754 T. Gardner Dunwich 216 This Port [Southwold] is of singular note in merchandizing Corn and Coals, where twenty-one is deemed a Score. 1789 Brand Hist. Newcastle II. 681 The wages of hewers 2s. 8d. for hewing every score or twenty corves of coals. 1812 Hodgson in Raine Mem. (1857) I. 98 Persons who..wrought 624 scores of coal, equal to 1300 Newcastle chaldrons. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumb. & Durh. 46 Score, a standard number of tubs or corves of coals at each colliery, upon which the hewers' and putters' prices for working are paid. It varies, in different localities, from 20 to 26 tubs.

    20. (See quot.) ? Obs.

1854 Househ. Words IX. 88 Strips [of straw plait] are..sold in scores, or pieces twenty yards long.

    21. Criminals' slang. a. Twenty dollars; a twenty-dollar bill. U.S. b. Twenty pounds sterling (esp. in banknotes).

1929 G. L. Hostetter It's a Racket! 237 Score, twenty dollar bill, or units thereof—hundred, two hundred. 1933 G. Ingram Stir xiv. 231, ‘I got about {pstlg}10 out of the first, then {pstlg}2 and then another {oqq}score{cqq}.’ ‘That makes {pstlg}32.’ 1941 Coast to Coast 1941 225 They only owe me a couple of quid since Christmas now. I was holdin' a score but I dropped most of it. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights iii. 152 When they turned me over I had about a score on me. 1979 K. Bonfiglioli After you with Pistol vii. 39 You'll have to give me a score to buy an old throwaway shooter.

    IV. 22. attrib. and Comb., as score-keeping; (sense 15 d) score dough (dough n. 2 b), score money; score-bid Contract Bridge, a bid by a player whose side has a part-score, sufficient to give his side game; score-board, (a) a blackboard in a public house, on which debts are chalked up; (b) in Cricket, a large board erected so as to be seen by the onlookers, on which the score of the game is kept; also gen., a master board displaying the score of any contest; also fig. and attrib.; score-book, a book for preserving the scores of games; a scoring-book; score-box Cricket, a room or hut in which the official scorers work and (usu.) the telegraph is operated; score-card, (a) a printed card with a blank form on which spectators may enter the score in a game of cricket or baseball; also in extended uses, esp. a card issued to a competitor before a contest, on which his score (or that of his opponent) is to be recorded, or one held by a referee or judge for the same purpose; (b) U.S., ‘in exhibitions of poultry, a rating card’ (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895); (c) see quot. 1909; (d) U.S. slang., a menu; score draw, a non-goalless draw (draw n. 5) counting for three points on a football-pool coupon; score-game Golf, a game in which the player's object is to obtain the highest score possible (opposed to match game); so score-play; scoreline, (a line, or part of one, in a newspaper, etc., giving) the intermediate or final score in a sports contest between two persons or team; score-paper = score-sheet; score-reading, the action or process of reading a musical score; hence score-reader; score-sheet (see quot. 1895); also transf. and fig., esp. in phrases, as to add one's name to the score-sheet, to score a goal (in Association Football and the like).

1928 M. C. Work Contract Bridge (ed. 2) iv. 76 If my side has a contract score of 60, I must put a construction on my partner's minor two bid different from the construction put upon such a bid at no score... ‘*Score-bids’ are exceptions to the general rules.

1826 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) I. 90 A species of desk on which was lying a black *score-board and a lump of chalk. 1884 Harper's Mag. Jan. 299/1 The club has its own score-board. 1904 Daily Chron. 26 July 7/1 The score⁓board showed Somerset 147 up for the loss of four wickets. 1936 F. D. Roosevelt in N.Y. Herald Tribune 2 Oct. 10/2 From where I stand it looks as if the game was pretty well in the bag... It's just plain scoreboard arithmetic... Now, when the present management of your team took charge in 1933 the national scoreboard looked pretty bad. 1963 J. Joesten They call it Intelligence i. v. 51 What kind of record has the CIA?..The scoreboard: ‘Soviet satellites—Excellent’...‘Missiles—Good.’ 1977 Rolling Stone 13 Jan. 43/3 There were shouts of delight as Texas lit up in red on one of the network's scoreboards, but it was still a close race. 1977 J. Laker One-Day Cricket 72 A few narrow escapes kept the scoreboard officials busy.

1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field iv. 69 ‘Seventy-two runs,’ said Fennex, and the *score-book attests his accuracy, ‘was Beldham's first and only innings.’ 1862 Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 191 In Britcher's printed score-book, Mr. J. Tufton is..put down as bowled merely. 1902 W. J. Ford Hist. Camb. Univ. C.C. Pref. 9 The C.U.C.C. has but..two scorebooks. 1921 P. F. Warner My Cricketing Life vi. 111 Sixteen centuries stand to his credit in the Middlesex score-book. 1977 J. Laker One-Day Cricket 113 Gone are the days of the old green bound Club scorebook.

1890 in W. A. Bettesworth Walkers of Southgate (1900) xvi. 335 Pressmen were expected to..keep running to the *score-box to ask for any information they required. 1934 W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket 226 Underneath (the score-box was) a room for the printers.

1877 C. Box Eng. Game of Cricket xxvi. 459 *Score card, a printed card, with the names of the players and the results of each person's innings. 1903 Daily Chron. 4 July 5/7 For without stop-watches, score⁓cards, and constant figuring, one had no idea where the contestants were. 1905 McClure's Mag. June 125/2 The football score-card privilege is ‘sold to a New York expert’. 1909 Eastwood Rep. to L.G.B. on Amer. Methods Milk Supply 69. Most of the cities which I visited have adopted the score card system of inspection. When examining a place where milk is..sold, the inspector fills up a card containing a printed list of the details on which he is required to report. For each detail a maximum score of a certain number of points is assigned. 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 538 Score cards, pasteboard cards issued to competitors at competitions, giving the number of the target of each competitor firing,..and containing a blank space for the record of the shots fired. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel 160 He handed her the menu. ‘Here's the scorecard.’ 1958 People 4 May 19/7 How much is a quarter of a point worth on a fight referee's score-card? 1976 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 4 Dec. 13/6 The other [sc. dart-players'] score cards were not in at the time of writing. 1978 Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 23/5 (Advt.), When you call in at our showrooms and test drive the Austin Morris range, we'll provide a detailed scorecard. First test our cars then try to match them against the competition.

1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §510/1 Connection or *score dough, the price of a ‘bindle’ of narcotics.

1970 Sporting Life 2 Nov. 12 Percentage is based on three points for a correct *score draw and two for a correct no-score match against the total number of points possible. 1977 Daily Mirror 15 Mar. 27/1 Plan 6..guarantees a line of at least seven score draws if any eight of your selections result as score draws.

1905 Daily Chron. 19 Aug. 9/7 The amateurs like match play best because they do better in it than they do at the *score game.

Ibid. 20 Dec. 3/4 Many witty things he has to say, as, for instance, on *score-keeping.

1969 B. James England v Scotland iii. 64 The *score line was a far from accurate guide to the run of play. 1971 Rand Daily Mail 27 Mar. 23/6 Had Arcadia grabbed their chances the scoreline could have been reversed. 1977 Sunday Times 9 Jan. 30/6 It was only when he..scored three times, that the scoreline became slightly more respectable.

1953 W. Burroughs Junkie vi. 61 Nick had just arrived at my apartment with some *score money when I was called to the hall phone by the buzzer.

1847 W. Denison Cricketer's Comp. p. xv, [Such runs] ought in fairness not to be placed on the *score-paper as single byes. 1862 Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 315 Scorers, or those who copied the score papers into the book, must have been very careless.

1902 Westm. Gaz. 2 Jan. 2/1 In *score play..the same argument does not apply.

1946 Penguin Music Mag. Dec. 75 Music does not exist until it is performed, whatever our armchair *score-readers may say to the contrary. 1961 J. A. MacGillivray in A. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages 247 Music is written for the player, not for the score-reader.

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. II. 1183/2 *Score-reading. 1931 G. Jacob Orchestral Technique i. 4 To facilitate score-reading we give below the English, Italian, French, and German names for the instruments. 1977 Listener 23 June 822/2 Score-reading involves two quite different activities. First, you must learn to read music... The second element..is the ability to hear in imagination, in the mind's ear.

1859 in W. A. Bettesworth Walkers of Southgate (1900) v. 54 (plate) ‘Bell's Life in London’ *Score Sheets, &c. &c., may be had at the Tent. 1895 Funk's Stand. Dict., Score-sheet, a sheet ruled or designed for scoring; specifically, in baseball and cricket, a sheet ruled for recording all the features of the game. 1944 W. W. Elton et al. Guide Naval Aviation iv. 73 Dive bombers caused much of the Jap grief at Midway, where the score sheet revealed four Jap carriers sunk and other craft damaged and sunk. 1976 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 4 Dec. 12/6 Ullswater managed to keep the score sheet blank up to half-time. 1976 Norwich Mercury 10 Dec. 8/3 They..made sure of the points when Stew Reynolds added his name to the scoresheet.

▪ II. score, v.
    (skɔə(r))
    Also 5–7 skore, 6 scoore, 6–7 scoure, 7 scoar.
    [a. ON. skora to make an incision, to count by tallies, f. skor: see score n. The Eng. development of senses has been largely influenced by the n., and in some senses the vb. may be regarded as an Eng. formation on this.]
    I. To cut, mark with incisions.
    1. a. trans. To cut superficially; to make scores or cuts in; to mark with incisions, notches, or abrasions of the skin. Also, † to score away, to remove by cutting.

c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 231 If þou desirist to cure glandulas & scrophulas..kutte þe skyn endelongis þe necke,..& þane score [Latin discarnare] him & drawe him out al hool with þe clooþ. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 119 Have a thing therfore Made like a swerde this folk [sc. the testicles] away to score. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxii. 55 His feit with stanis war rewin and scorde. a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche iv. 34 Thow wolde haue scoryd hys habarion. 1570 Levins Manip. 174/27 To score, crenare, incidere. c 1622 Fletcher Prophetess iv. v, Scoring a man ore the cox⁓comb is but a scratch with you. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 124 She with her teeth scored his skull in notches in many places. 1794 J. Clark Agric. Heref. 44 When the trees are unkindly ‘hide-bound’, they are ‘scored’ by cutting the bark with the point of a knife. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. v. 615 Here stood stern Putnam, scored with ancient scars. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. (1850) 380 He..found most of the tall trees..more or less scored by the axe. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. v. (1879) 84 The elephant..deeply scores with its tusks the trunk of the tree. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. x. 75 We see the primitive plough of the forking tree-branch, scarcely scoring the soil. 1852 M. Arnold Tristram & Iseult iii. 172 A briar in that tangled wilderness Had scor'd her white right hand. 1872 Baker Nile Trib. xi. 186 Young infants are scored with a razor. 1891 Century Dict., Score, to make a long shallow cut in (cardboard or very thick paper), so that the card or paper can be bent without breaking, as for book-covers or folded cards. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad lxii, Out of a stem that scored the hand I wrung it in a weary land.

    b. spec. in Cookery. To make long parallel cuts upon (meat, etc.).

c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 236 A calf lyuer skorde with the veryose. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery ix. 87 To Roast a Cod's Head. Wash it very clean and score it with a Knife. 1771 E. Haywood New Present 95 The skin [of a loin of pork] must then be scored cross-wise. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 168 Some butchers in the north country score the fat of the closing of the hind quarter. 1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 138 Having previously scored the back of the animal [to be baked].

    c. To mark by cuts of a whip. Also transf. and absol.

1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. vii. 12 Let vs score their backes. 1785 Burke Sp. Nabob of Arcot's Debts Wks. IV. 286 The remaining miserable last cultivator, who grows to the soil, after having his back scored by the farmer, has it again flayed by the whip of the assignee. c 1806 Sir R. Wilson Cape of Good Hope in Life (1862) I. 362 It is not pretended..that the lash never scores at the caprice of ill temper.

    † d. Sc. to score aboon the breath: to gash the forehead of (a suspected witch) with a knife or a rusty nail, in order to render her incapable of mischief. Obs.

1787 W. Taylor Poems 93 (Jam.) A witty wife did than advise Rob to gang to Maukin Wise, An' score her over, ance or twice, Aboon the breath. 1807 Hogg Mountain Bard Note xi, He seized her forcibly, and cut the shape of the cross on her forehead. This they call scoring aboon the breath.

    e. Geol. To mark with scratches or furrows; said esp. with reference to glacial action.

1862 Tyndall Mountaineer. iii. 19 All around the rocks are carved, and fluted, and polished, and scored. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 161 These stones, pressed by the weight of ice above, scratch and score the rocky bed in the direction of the ice-flow. 1879 Le Conte Elem. Geol. i. ii. 66 If the water be not sufficiently deep, they ground, and being swayed by waves and tides they [sc. icebergs] chafe and score the bottom in a somewhat irregular manner.

    † 2. To fracture, wreck (a ship). Obs.

1504 in Charters, etc. Edinb. (1871) 188 The schip callit the Litill Martin latlie skorit or brokin in tha partis. 1513 Douglas æneis v. iv. 91 Hir foirschip hang, and sum deill scorit throwout [orig. inlisaque prora pependit]. 1513 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 482 Item, for the mendyng of the said boit, scho beand skorit with greit artailyery passand to the schippis. 1546 [see scoring vbl. n. 1].

    3. To produce (marks, figures, etc.) by cutting. Also (with allusion to sense 10), to record or express by cuts or notches.

1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 2 And on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore,..Upon his shield the like was also scor'd. 1592 Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 65 She will scoure your fault vpon my pate. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iii. ii, Draw your iust sword, And score your vengeance, on my front, and face. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 81 My pen shall point thee out, And thy lewde actes vpon thy forehead score. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. (1850) 380 On the bark of the tree was scored the name of Deacon Peabody. 1869 Froude Short Stud. Ser. ii. (1871) 325 If we except the Athenians and Jews, no people so few in number have scored so deep a mark in the world's history as you [Scots] have done. 1889 ― Two Chiefs of Dunboy xxvii. 415 They shall..score such marks on you as the quarter-master leaves on the slaves that you hire to fight your battles.

    4. Naut. To make a ‘score’ or groove in; to fix by means of a ‘score’.

1779 Barnard in Phil. Trans. LXX. 108 Pl. 3, E. Pillars in hold about which every half Beam was scored. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 298/1 These brass wheels..are fixed over the centre of each block that is to be scored. 1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. ii. 27 This bulb-iron is scored down between the floors sufficiently deep to lay hold of the Keelson-pieces with a double row of rivets.

    5. N. Amer. [? fig. use of 1 c.] To rate, scold severely. Now esp. used in newspaper headlines.

1812 J. K. Paulding John Bull & Brother Jonathan xiv. 102 She..fell upon Beau Napperty, and scored him at such a rate, that if poor Beau had heard her, he would have been mad enough I warrant you. 1891 T. R. Lounsbury Studies Chaucer III. vii. 223 Even poor Lipscomb..was soundly scored for his grossness and vulgarity. 1896 Nation LXIII. 37/2 He does not hesitate to score the Germans for their obstinate adherence to their own language and manners. 1912 J. Sandilands Western Canad. Dict. & Phrase-Bk. s.v. Scored, An Opposition newspaper came out with the heading ‘Government Legislation Scored’. 1930 Publishers' Weekly 8 Mar. 1331/2 (heading) Smoot's secret session scored. 1967 N.Y. Times (Internat. ed.) 11–12 Feb. 3/3 (heading) Professor scores Reagan.

    II. 6. a. To mark with a line or lines.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. vii. (1495) 555 Thouh syluer be white, yet it makyth blacke lynes and strakes in the body that it is scoryd therwyth or rulyd therwyth. 1530 Palsgr. 706/2 Whan your tymber is well scoored, you can never fayle to sawe it right. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnassus iii. iii. 1326 Then with his nayle score the margent as though there were some notable conceit. 1632 Marmion Holland's Leaguer i. v, No name or title but on posts and trenchers, And doors scored with a coal instead of chalk. 1672 Essex Papers (1890) 18, I desire his Maj{supt}{supi}⊇ would bee pleasd to review y⊇ sevrall clauses w{supc}{suph} for his greater ease I have scored with a pen in the severall copys here transmitted. 1784 W. King Cook's 3rd Voy. v. vii. III. 151 They have likewise a method of scoring them [sc. gourds] with a heated instrument. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §185 Covered with cement, scored (lined) in imitation of stone, and white⁓washed. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair l, Passages had been scored in his favourite books. 1869 Parkman Discov. Gt. West xiii. (1875) 154 The plains were scored with their pathways. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton ii. 20 Fields and meadows, scored with hedges. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 384 A votive tablet covered with Punic characters and scored with rude figures of a triangle and an uplifted hand. 1881 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. ii. i. 163 We had found..a copy of the once famous Tract 90..scored over with pencil marks.

    b. absol. To make marks.

1698 Phil. Trans. XX. 272 Upon Torrefaction it was all become a Yellow Ochre, and would score like it.

    † c. To mark out (a path, a boundary, etc.).

1608 Day Hum. out of Breath ii. i, Giue me money, ile be thy snaile and score out a siluer path to his confusion. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Tri. iv. 20 Acquieting the soules that newe before Their way to heav'n through their owne blood did skore. 1633 G. Herbert Priest to Temple xiii, These Two Rules..excellently score out the way, and fully, and exactly contain..what course is to be taken. 1638 G. Sandys Paraphr. Job 55 Hast thou..Scor'd out the bounded Suns obliquer wayes? 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Dominium Maris Advt., The limits thereof, beeing a fluent element, could not bee scored out, or certainly determined. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 84 Never to take up the Stakes till the Track be scored out very plain upon the Ground.

    † d. to score out: to sketch in outline, adumbrate. Obs.

1615 Crooke Body of Man 265 Almost in the same instant the first threds of the spermaticall partes are together and at once skored or shaddowed out with rude lines.

    7. To draw a line through (writing, etc.) in order to cancel. Often with out.

1687 Johnston in Magd. Coll. & Jas. II (O.H.S.) 154 In the..Paper I found it scored out. a 1722 Fountainhall Decis. (1759) I. 10 Where the penalty in a bond was left blank, and the said blank scored, the Lords refused to modify any expences. 1832 H. Martineau Ireland iii. 42 Scoring the lease from corner to corner, with his newly-mended pen. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 184 His full Mercy's gracious store With liberal dash thy guilt shall score And blot the sentence. 1879 Daily Tel. 29 May, The passage in the will containing the bequest of the annuity to the noble Lord and his Lady was scored out.

    † 8. trans. To stripe, braid. Obs. rare.

1604 T. M. Black Bk. D 3 b, A payre of Veluet slops, scored thicke with Lace.

    9. Mus. a. To write down in score. b. To compose or arrange for orchestral performance.

1839 Hood Storm at Hastings xvi, Handel would make the gusty organs blow Grandly, and a rich storm in music score us! 1850 W. Irving Goldsmith xxxiv. 326 He pretended to score down an air as the poet played it. 1871 R. Browning Pr. Hohenst. 1813 Who scores a septett true for strings and wind Mulcted must be. 1884 American VIII. 94 Mr. Gilchrist skilfully scored the cantata for full orchestra. 1885 Manchester Exam. 9 Jan. 5/6 The Adagio is scored with great beauty, the treatment of the wood instruments and horns being especially effective.

    c. To write the score for (a film). Cf. score n. 6 c.

1934 Webster, Score,..to add music to a picture that already has sound effects. 1967 H. Harrison Technicolor Time Machine (1968) xv. 156 ‘Is it true you scored a couple of films?’ ‘It is true I did the music for a ragged piece of class-X crap.’ 1969 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 15 May 1-c/7 Poet-singer-composer Rod McKuen has scored three movies.

    III. To record by scores.
    10. a. To record (debts) by means of notches on a tally; hence to write down as a debt. Also with up.

c 1386 Chaucer Shipman's T. 416 And, if so be I faille, I am your wyf; score it vp-on my taille, And I shal paye, as soone as euer I may. c 1460 Bk. Curtasye 407 in Babees Bk., Þer-fore on his ȝerde skore shalle he Alle messys in halle þat seruet be. 1530 Palsgr. 706/2, I score, I marke upon a tayle or score, je marque. Score it, I pray you, for forgettyng. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 29 Score a Pint of Bastard in the Halfe Moone. 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood viii. 14 He..scores his dyet on the Vitlers post. 1631 Heywood Fair Maid of West ii. 15 When I brought them a reckoning, they would have had me to have scor'd it up. 1669 G. Etherege Love in Tub i. ii, The Chandler refus'd to score a quart of Scurvy-grass. 1719 D'Urfey Pills IV. 184 Let's..keep drinking and scoring brisk Claret. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones viii. xii, He answered: ‘That signifies nothing: Score it behind the door’. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxxxii, Joe provided him with a slate, upon which the old man regularly scored up vast accounts. 1860 Sala Badd. Peerage iv, Pleading some ridiculous three-and-ninepence scored against me on the slate.

fig. 1600 Holland Livy xxx. 760 And certes you also..may skore up this for none of the least. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cxxii, Nor need I tallies thy dear love to score. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Gov. Eng. i. lxiv. (1739) 133 The Subject must be contented rather to score it up against the future, than require present pay. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxvi, I won't deal with you now,..I'll score it against ye, and some time I'll have my pay out o' yer old black hide. 1883 Tyndall in Contemp. Rev. XLIV. 39 His [Rumford's] inference from his experiments was scored in favour of those philosophers who held that heat is a form of motion.

    † b. to score (something) on a person or thing: to lay to the charge of, to impute to. Obs.

1645 Milton Colast. 3 Bearing us in hand as if hee knew both Greek and Ebrew, and is not able to spell it; which had hee been, it had bin either writt'n as it ought, or scor'd upon the Printer. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Surrey (1662) iii. 96 This was the true Cause of his Execution, though in our Chronicles all is scored on his complying in a Plot.

    † 11. a. intr. To run up a score; to obtain drink, goods, etc. on credit. Obs.

1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. K 1 b, Pitch and pay, they will pray all day: score & borrow, they will wish him much sorrow. 1631 Heywood Fair Maid of West i. 12 It is the commonest thing that can bee for these Captaines to score and to score, but when the scores are to be paid, Non est inventus. 16.. Cleveland May Day xiv. Wks. (1687) 253 Then lose the Flood-gates George, wee'll pay or score. 1727 Philip Quarll 83 Being as welcome to score, as with ready Money. 1779 Mirror No. 23 ¶3 Which title [sc. of an honest fellow] he continued to enjoy..while he had credit to score for his reckoning.

    b. trans. To add (an item) to one's score; to incur (a debt). In quot. fig.

1681 Dryden Sp. Fryar i. i. 3 It seems the holy Stallion durst not score Another Sin before he left the world.

    12. a. trans. To enter as a debtor. Also with up.

1592 Greene Upst. Courtier G j, If any chaunce to go on the skore, you skore him when he is a sleepe, and set vp a grote a daye more than he hath. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden L 4 b, He stood noted or scoard for it in their bookes manie a faire day after. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. ix. (1640) 244 By dying for the Crosse [they did] crosse the score of their own sinnes and score up God for their debtour. 1801 Huntington God Guardian of Poor 64 Thus I scored up my blessed Master, who, in his own time, always discharged my debts with honour. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas x. x. ¶17 You may earn your board easily enough, by scoring up the customers, and keeping my ledger.

    † b. to score up: to placard as an offender.

1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 38 b, I thinke good they [flatterers] were scored up among the intollerable. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. ii. 25 If she say I am not xiiii. d. on the score for sheere Ale, score me vp for the lyingst knaue in Christendome.

    13. a. To record the number of (anything) by notches or marks; to keep an account of; to count and set down the number of (e.g. sheep). Also with up.

a 1400 Quatrefoil of Love in Furnivall Miscell. 128 Oure werkes are wretyn and scorde, In a role of recorde. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. ii. ix. (1633) 119 Wherein the age to come may skore him among the auncient Princes. 1609 Rowlands Whole Crew 7 When I was Maid, with Chalke behind our doore, Some fiue and forty Suitors I did score. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 40, I haue not taken vpon mee to score vp all the accidents and occasions to further old age. 1631 A. Wilson Swisser iii. ii, Wee will score vp Summs Of our embraces. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Good Friday iii, Or shall each leaf, Which falls in Autumne, score a grief? 1656 Cowley Anacreontics vi. Poems 34 An hundred Loves at Athens score, At Corinth write an hundred more. 1681 Dryden Sp. Fryar i. i. 6 We were in hast; and cou'd not stay To score the men we kill'd: But there they lye. 1681 ― Abs. & Achit. i. 542 Such were the tools; but a whole Hydra more Remains of sprouting heads too long to score.

    b. Biol. and Med. To examine (experimentally treated cells, bacterial colonies, or the like), making a record of the number showing some character.

1964 Virol. XXIII. 118/1 Subconfluent monolayers were infected with 0·5 ml of virus and transferred the following day at an inoculation density of 100 and 500 cells per plate. Transformed colonies were scored 14 days later. 1971 Nature 20 Aug. 559/1 After 2–3 weeks the plates were fixed, stained and the colonies scored.

    14. a. In a game or contest: To set down in the score: often with compl. obj. Chiefly in pass.

1742 Hoyle Whist i. 15 If your Game is scored 1, 2, or 3, you must play the Reverse. 17.. in Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. (1862) I. Pref. 10 Y⊇ Umpires..in case of hindrance may order a Notch to be Scored. 1862 Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 22 Leg-before-wicket was also introduced about this time [1775], but at first simply scored down as bowled. Ibid. 191 [Aug. 12–15, 1795] In this match ‘leg-before-wicket’ is found scored for the first time. 1892 Hurlingham Club Rules 241 If a bird that has been shot at perches or settles on the top of the fence,..it is to be scored a lost bird.

    b. absol. or intr. To record the points in a game or contest, to act as scorer.

1846 W. Denison Sk. Players 11 Mr. Whittaker..accompanied Mr. Mynn, and scored for him. 1862 Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 244 No one was bowled out on the England side, therefore (owing to the imperfect way of scoring at this period [1798]) it is impossible to say who got the wickets. 1891 W. G. Grace in Outdoor Games 14 The great thing in keeping score, after keeping it correctly, is to score neatly.

    15. a. trans. Of a player or competitor: To add (so many points) to one's score. Also said of an incident in the game: To count for (so many points) in a player's score. Phr. to score a miss: see miss n.¹ 7 b.

1742 Hoyle Whist 8, A and B are to score 10 Points. 1782 Burnby in Kentish Gaz. 20–3 Nov., Now the Batsman..Sends the Ball Over all Scores six Notches for the feat. 1833 J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor 81 When a batter..was scoring more runs than pleased our general, he would put Mann in to give him eight or twelve balls. 1850 ‘Bat’ Cricketer's Man. 100 Pilch scored sixty-one. 1856 ‘Capt. Crawley’ Billiards (1859) 33 My first stroke scored three. 1862 ‘Cavendish’ Whist (1879) 2 To score honours is not sufficient; they must be called at the end of the hand. 1869 Trollope He knew, etc. xxii. (1878) 125 On the present occasion a great many sixpenny points [at whist] were scored. 1885 Manchester Exam. 13 July 5/5 Two batsmen of the Harrow eleven..scored respectively 100 and 135. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 264/2 (Curling) Souter, to score a love game; not to allow the opponents to score. 1898 Ibid. II. 262/2 (Ringoal) If the ring hit the goal-post and glance off it through the goal, it shall score a point to the server.

    b. intr. To make points in a game or contest: said of a player or competitor; also, of a card or an incident in the game.

1844 Mardon Billiards 115 But, should the striker not score, it is at the option of the opponent to break them or not. Ibid. 116 If either of the balls lodge on a cushion, it is off the table; and should a canon or hazard be made, it does not score. 1853 Lytton My Novel ix. xi, It might score well in the game. 1862 Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 440 William Beldham was now fifty-five years of age, and still continued to score largely. 1873 Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 417 Sometimes it is advisable to combine safety with an attempt to score. 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 676/1 The player whose ball is in hand cannot score, unless he play his ball out of baulk before striking the object-ball. 1889 Field 12 Jan. 47/3 Spit drew out three lengths, scored thrice, and after a few exchanges with Gradation, picked puss up.

    c. To count or be reckoned in a score.

1885 Field 19 Dec. 847/1 The hazard scores to the striker.

    d. trans. Baseball. To cause (a team-mate) to score.

1912 C. Mathewson Pitching in Pinch v. 109 Schlei made a base hit..and scored both men. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 2–h/4 Mark Belanger singled to score May before DeCinces' fourth home run of the season.

    e. Psychol. To obtain (results in a test designed to measure abilities, capacities, or personality traits); to record results in (a test). Also intr. Cf. score n. 14 c.

1922 Jrnl. Experim. Psychol. V. 101 College students scoring 88 to 195 in the first trial. 1952 A. G. Wesman in N. E. Gronlund Readings in Measurement (1968) xx. 201 It is important to know the extent of agreement between the persons who score them [sc. tests]. Ibid., Such a correlation coefficient yields important information—it tells us how objectively the test can be scored. 1968 P. McKellar Experience & Behaviour xi. 277 Engineers tend to score highly on the economic (applied science) value trait. 1977 P. J. Dunham Experim. Psychol. ix. 240 We will not deal with the details of how the TAQ is scored. Ibid., The calm collected type of person who would score around 1 on the TAQ measure.

    16. transf. and fig. (chiefly colloq.) a. trans. To gain, win (a success, etc.). to score a point (or points) off (a person) = to score off (see sense 16 b).

1883 J. Hawthorne Dust xv. 124 She felt that she had scored the first success in the encounter. 1884 Athenæum 24 May 658 Occasionally the latter editor scores a point. 1884 Manchester Exam. 12 May 5/3 Last year he scored two unequivocal successes. 1885 Ibid. 13 Jan. 5/1 Prince Bismarck has at length scored a victory in his impracticable Reichstag. 1908 Athenæum 27 June 786/2 Though never exactly profound, Macaulay invariably scores his point. 1956 R. Braddon Nancy Wake xiii. 140 Fournier was ecstatic with pride and pleasure—and with delight at having scored a point off Gaspard! 1957 Practical Wireless XXXIII. 558/1 The episode I heard, ‘Rumour is a Lying Jade’, proved very amusing, with both stars scoring points off each other with satisfactory frequency.

    b. intr. To achieve a success; to make a hit. to score off (a person): to gain a triumph over, to make a point at the expense of.

1882 ‘Lucas Malet’ Mrs. Lorimer i. xiii, For once she felt she had scored off her adversary. 1884 Illustr. Lond. News 29 Nov. 522/1 The hat was cut and smashed, the lord's head was uninjured; so that, happily, the lord may be said to have ‘scored’. 1887 Doyle Study in Scarlet (1892) 87, I told you that, whatever happened, Lestrade and Gregson would be sure to score. 1890 Saintsbury in New Rev. Feb. 143 The Republic scores by its appeal to..the most widely diffused of human weaknesses. 1891 Spectator 1 Aug. 148/1 Boys home for the holidays delight in ‘scoring off’ their most beloved friends and relatives.

    c. trans. and intr. To make a (freq. dishonest) gain; spec. Criminals' slang, to commit a theft or robbery; to steal, filch, or purloin (something), esp. from an open counter or display. orig. U.S.

1914 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 74 Score,..to successfully negotiate; to ‘make a touch’... ‘We scored seven times in the same joint by ringing up,’ i.e., disguising. 1926 J. Black You can't Win xiv. 191 [The thief] throws a few dollars on the bar just to..let them guess where he ‘scored’ and how much he got. 1930 [see play n. 10 g]. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §490/8 Steal,..salvage, score, shark. 1972 Last Whole Earth Catalog 49/3 She was already plotting in her mind to stash part of their supper in her bag so they'd have something to eat the next day. She'd already scored a can of beer and a handful of cashew nuts. 1976 D. Topolski Muzungu vi. 99, I spotted a sugar factory, drove in, and scored a couple of kilos. 1977 D. Mackenzie Raven & Kamikaze xii. 146 ‘Where did you get it [sc. a newspaper]?’.. ‘Nicked it... It was too early to score any milk.’

    d. intr. and trans. To buy or otherwise obtain a narcotic drug; by extension, to take a narcotic drug. slang (orig. U.S.). Cf. score n. 15 d.

1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 101/2 Scored, made a purchase of dope. 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie 9 Junk wins by default. I tried it as a matter of curiosity. I drifted along taking shots when I could score. 1959 Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Mag. Feb. 68/1 To get you out of my pad I'll let you score for a low, low forty. 1969 Guardian 3 Dec. 9/1 She had needed the money to score H up in the West End. 1972 J. Brown Chancer ii. 30 The weekend ravers and joy-poppers..who maybe score half a pill of H for kicks. 1972 Daily Tel. 25 Feb. 17/3 Mick the Pimp asked me if I wanted to ‘score’ and gave me a tablet from a matchbox and I gave him {pstlg}1. 1977 It June 18/1 (caption) I can score better shit in Hendon on an off night!

    e. intr. Of a racehorse: to win a race.

1941 Sun (Baltimore) 13 June 21/1 Their choice scored by a head from Epindel. 1977 Evening Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 11 Jan. 13/4 Shifting Gold had gone on to score again in the Tote Northern Chase at Haydock Park.

    f. intr. and trans. Of a man: to achieve intercourse (with a woman); to have (casual) intercourse with (a woman); also occas. of a prostitute: to obtain (a client). slang (chiefly U.S.).

1960 R. G. Reisner Jazz Titans 164 Score, to, to attain success, to get what you want. Example: I scored with that chick. 1961 J. Rechy in Evergreen Rev. July–Aug. 19 You wanna score?.. See that old cat over there... He wants us both to come over to his house. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 249 The boys used to go to the local dance halls and stand around..until the..sexual urge prompted them to score a chick. 1973 W. H. Canaway Harry doing Good i. 36 They might begin to ball later on... He would like to score with the Cheryl chick. 1976 D. Craig Faith, Hope & Death ix. 42 They talk about ‘taking’ a woman... Or, ‘Did you score last night?’—like some great goal, scheming and forcing. 1976 ‘Trevanian’ Main (1977) ii. 39 He feels particularly sorry for the whores..who can only score drunks.

    IV. 17. intr. To ‘go off at score’ (see score n. 3 b).

1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xxxviii. 160 They [the hounds] score away full cry on getting upon more propitious ground. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 583/1 (Fox-hunting) Scoring. Hounds ‘score’ when the whole pack speak to a strong scent.

Oxford English Dictionary