score

English Online Dictionary. What means score‎? What does score mean?

English

Etymology

From 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

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: skôr, IPA^(key): /skɔː/
• (General American) enPR: skôrʹ, IPA^(key): /skoɹ/
• (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

score (plural scores)

2. The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.

3. The number of points accrued by each of the participants in a game, expressed as a ratio or a series of numbers.

4. The performance of an individual or group on an examination or test, expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a grade.

5. Twenty (20).
   1. A distance of twenty yards, in ancient archery and gunnery.
   2. A weight of twenty pounds.
   3. (British, slang) Twenty pounds sterling.
6. (often in the plural) A great deal; many, several.
7. (gambling) An amount of money won in gambling; winnings.
9. (music) The written form of a musical composition showing all instrumental and vocal parts.
10. (music) The music of a movie or play.
11. A subject.
12. An account; a reason; a motive; a sake; a behalf.
13. A notch or incision; especially, one that is made as a tally mark; hence, a mark, or line, made for the purpose of account.
14. An account or reckoning; account of dues; bill; debt.
15. (US, slang, crime) A criminal act, especially:
    1. A robbery.
    2. A bribe paid to a police officer.
    3. An illegal sale, especially of drugs.

    4. A prostitute's client.
16. (originally US, vulgar, slang) A sexual conquest.
17. (UK, regional) In the Lowestoft area, a narrow pathway running down a cliff to the beach.

Usage notes

• 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

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

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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.

2. (intransitive) To record the tally of points for a game, a match, or an examination.
3. (ambitransitive) To obtain something desired.
   1. To earn points in a game.
   2. To achieve academic credit on a test, quiz, homework, assignment, or course.
   3. (gambling) To win money by gambling.
   4. (slang) To acquire or gain.

   5. (US, crime, slang, of a police officer) To extract a bribe.
   6. (vulgar, slang) To obtain a sexual favor.
4. (transitive) To rate; to evaluate the quality of.
5. (transitive, music, film) To provide (a film, etc.) with a musical score.
6. (horse racing, ambitransitive) To return (a horse and rider) to the starting-point repeatedly, until a fair start is achieved.
   • 1878, John H. Wallace, Wallace's Monthly (volume 4, page 18)

     […] and the scoring for a start by these "inferior" horses would kill a thoroughbred. As an instance, in the 2:27 race at Cleveland, last summer, twelve horses scored seventeen times before they got a fair start.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (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

Descendants

• →⇒ Irish: scóráil

Translations

Interjection

score

1. (US, slang) An acknowledgement of success.

See also

• grade

References

• 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

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

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English score.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skoːrə/, [ˈsɡ̊oːɐ]

Noun

score c (singular definite scoren, plural indefinite scorer)

1. A score, a number of points earned.

Declension

Verb

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]

Conjugation

Derived terms

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English score.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskoː.rə/
• Hyphenation: sco‧re

Noun

score m (plural scores, diminutive scoretje n)

1. score (number of points earned)

Derived terms

• scorebord

Related terms

• scoren

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English score.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɔʁ/

Noun

score m (plural scores)

1. score (in a sport, game)

Derived terms

• scorer

Descendants

• → Romanian: scor n

Further reading

• “score”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• corse, Corse
• ocres

Middle English

Alternative forms

• scoore, skore

Etymology

Inherited from Old English scoru, from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskɔːr(ə)/

Noun

score (plural scores)

1. score

Descendants

• English: score
• Yola: score

References

• “scōr(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• skår (of noun)
• skåre (of verb)

Etymology

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

Noun

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

1. a score

Verb

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)

Derived terms

• scorer
• scoring
• scoringsposisjon
• scoringssjanse

References

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

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Borrowed from English score. Doublet of skòr.

Noun

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

1. a score

Verb

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

1. to score (earn points in a game)

References

• “score” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English score.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /esˈkoɾ/ [esˈkoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ

Noun

score m (plural scores)

1. (sports) score

Usage notes

According 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

Etymology

From Middle English score, from Old English scoru.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɔːr/

Noun

score

1. score

References

• 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