score

 
Pronunciation: /skɔː/

noun

  • 1the number of points, goals, runs, etc. achieved in a game or by a team or an individual: the final score was 4-3 to Royston
  • informal an act of gaining a goal or point in a game.
  • a rating or grade, such as a mark achieved in a test: an IQ score of 161
  • (the score) informal the state of affairs; the facts about the present situation: ‘What’s wrong Simon? What’s the score?’
  • informal an act of buying illegal drugs: she made her first score from a dealer in Times Square
  • informal the proceeds of a crime: robbers usually case a score a few times before they go in
  • 2 (plural ) a group or set of twenty or about twenty: a score of men lost their lives in the battle Doyle’s success brought imitators by the score
  • (scores of) a large number of something: he sent scores of enthusiastic letters to friends
  • 3a written representation of a musical composition showing all the vocal and instrumental parts arranged one below the other.
  • the music composed for a film or play: a film score
  • 4a notch or line cut or scratched into a surface: check the shaft for scratches and scores
  • historical a running account kept by marks against a customer’s name, typically in a public house.

verb

[with object]
  • 1gain (a point, goal, run, etc.) in a competitive game: McCartney scored a fine goal [no object]: Wilson outstripped his marker to score
  • be worth (a number of points): a yes answer scores ten points
  • [no object] record the score during a game; act as scorer: the important thing is to score neatly
  • Baseball cause (a teammate) to score: Abe Herbst singled, scoring Norman and Lang
  • informal secure (a success or an advantage): the band scored a hit single
  • (score off) British informal outdo or humiliate (someone) in an argument.
  • informal buy or acquire (something, typically illegal drugs): Sally had scored some acid
  • [no object] informal succeed in attracting a sexual partner for a casual encounter: he thought he could score with bimbos by telling crude jokes
  • 2orchestrate or arrange (a piece of music), typically for a specified instrument or instruments: the Quartet Suite was scored for flute, violin, viola da gamba, and continuo
  • compose the music for (a film or play): he’d previously scored the first and fifth films
  • 3cut or scratch a notch or line on (a surface): score the card until you cut through
  • (score something out/through) delete text by drawing a line through it.
  • historical record (a total owed) by making marks against a customer’s name: a slate on which the old man scored up vast accounts
  • 4 Medicine & Biology examine (experimentally treated cells, bacterial colonies, etc.), making a record of the number showing a particular character: the aim should be to score between fifty and one hundred mitotic cells

Phrases

keep (the) score

register the score of a game as it is made.

know the score

informal be aware of the essential facts about a situation: he had already appeared in a dozen films, and knew the score before he reached Hollywood

on the score of

British because of: power-driven hedge trimmers tend to get a bad press on the score of danger

on that (or this) score

so far as that (or this) is concerned: my priority was to blend new faces into the team and we have succeeded on that score

score points

outdo another person, especially in an argument: politicians are always sniping at one another to score party points

score points off

another way of saying score off below.

settle (or pay) a (or the) score

  • 1take revenge on someone for something damaging that they have done in the past: his 957-page book also appears to be a chance to settle old scores
  • 2 dated pay off a debt or other obligation.

Derivatives

scoreless

adjective

Origin:

late Old English scoru 'set of twenty', from Old Norse skor 'notch, tally, twenty', of Germanic origin; related to shear. The verb (late Middle English) is from Old Norse skora 'make an incision'