SCORE, n.

1. A notch or incision; hence, the number twenty. Our ancestors, before the knowledge of writing, numbered and kept accounts of numbers by cutting notches on a stick or tally, and making one notch the representative of twenty. A simple mark answered the same purpose.
2. A line drawn.
3. An account or reckoning; as, he paid his score. – Shak.
4. An account kept of something past; an epoch; an era. Tillotson.
5. Debt, or account of debt. – Shak.
6. Account; reason; motive. But left the trade, as many more / Have lately done on the same score. – Hudibras.
7. Account; sake. You act your kindness on Cydaria's score. Dryden.
8. In music, the original and entire draught of any composition, or its transcript. – Busby. To quit scores, to pay fully; to make even by giving an equivalent. A song in score, the words with the musical notes of a song annexed. – Johnson.

1. To notch; to cut and chip for the purpose of preparing for hewing; as, to score timber.
2. To cut; to engrave. – Spenser.
3. To mark by a line. – Sandys.
4. To set down as a debt. Madam, I know when, / Instead of five, you scored me ten. – Swift.
5. To set down or take as an account; to charge; as to score follies. – Dryden.
6. To form a score in music. – Busby.

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

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

2. To mark with lines, scratches, or notches] to cut notches or furrows in; to notch; to scratch; to furrow; as, to score timber for hewing; to score the back with a lash.
   
   

   Let us score their backs. Shak.

   A briar in that tangled wilderness
   Had scored her white right hand. M. Arnold.

3. To keep the score in a game; to act as scorer.
4. An account or reckoning; account of dues; bill; hence, indebtedness.
   
   

   He parted well, and paid his score. Shak.

5. Especially, to mark with significant lines or notches, for indicating or keeping account of something; as, to score a tally.
6. To make or count a point or points, as in a game; to tally.
7. Account; reason; motive; sake; behalf.
   
   

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

   You act your kindness in Cydaria's score. Dryden.

8. To mark or signify by lines or notches; to keep record or account of; to set down; to record; to charge.
   
   

   Madam, I know when,
   Instead of five, you scored me ten. Swift.

   Nor need I tallies thy dear love to score. Shak.

9. To run up a score, or account of dues.
10. The number twenty, as being marked off by a special score or tally; hence, in pl., a large number.
    
    

    Amongst three or four score hogsheads. Shak.

    At length the queen took upon herself to grant patents of monopoly by scores. Macaulay.

11. To engrave, as upon a shield.
    
    
    [R.] Spenser.
12. A distance of twenty yards; -- a term used in ancient archery and gunnery.
    
    
    Halliwell.
13. To make a score of, as points, runs, etc., in a game.
14. A weight of twenty pounds.
    
    
    [Prov. Eng.]
15. To write down in proper order and arrangement; as, to score an overture for an orchestra. See Score, n., 9.
16. The number of points gained by the contestants, or either of them, in any game, as in cards or cricket.
17. To mark with parallel lines or scratches; as, the rocks of New England and the Western States were scored in the drift epoch.
18. A line drawn; a groove or furrow.
19. The original and entire draught, or its transcript, of a composition, with the parts for all the different instruments or voices written on staves one above another, so that they can be read at a glance; -- so called from the bar, which, in its early use, was drawn through all the parts.
    
    
    Moore (Encyc. of Music).

    In score (Mus.), having all the parts arranged and placed in juxtaposition. Smart. -- To quit scores, to settle or balance accounts; to render an equivalent; to make compensation.

    Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in the noble fruits that issue from it? South.