1. A notch or incision, especially one that is made to keep a tally.
2. Sports & Games.
   1. A usually numerical record of a competitive event: keeping score.
   2. The total number of points made by each competitor or side in a contest, either final or at a given stage: The score stood tied in the bottom of the ninth inning.
   3. The number of points attributed to a competitor or team.
3. A result, usually expressed numerically, of a test or examination.
4. 1. An amount due; a debt.
   2. A grievance that is harbored and requires satisfaction: settle an old score.
5. A ground; a reason.
6. A group of 20 items.
7. scores Large numbers: Scores of people attended the rally.
8. Music.
   1. The notation of a musical work.
   2. The written form of a composition for orchestral or vocal parts.
   3. The music written for a film or a play.
9. Slang.
   1. The act of securing an advantage, especially a surprising or significant gain: "He had dropped out of school and gone for that quick dollar, that big score" (Peter Goldman).
   2. The act or an instance of buying illicit drugs.
   3. A successful robbery.
   4. A sexual conquest.

1. To mark with lines or notches, especially for the purpose of keeping a record.
2. To cancel or eliminate by or as if by superimposing lines.
3. To mark the surface of (meat, for example) with usually parallel cuts.
4. Sports & Games.
   1. To gain (a point) in a game or contest.
   2. To count or be worth as points: A basket scores two points.
   3. To keep a written record of the score or events of (a game or contest).
   4. Baseball. To cause (a base runner) to cross home plate, especially by getting a hit: scored both runners with a double.
5. To achieve; win.
6. To evaluate and assign a grade to.
7. Music.
   1. To orchestrate.
   2. To arrange for a specific instrument.
8. To criticize cuttingly; berate.
9. Slang.
   1. To succeed in acquiring: scored two tickets to the play.
   2. To succeed in obtaining (an illicit drug): "Aging punks try to impress her with tales of . . . the different drugs they've scored" (Art Jahnke).

1. Sports & Games.
   1. To make a point in a game or contest.
   2. To keep the score of a game or contest.
2. Slang.
   1. To achieve a purpose or advantage, especially to make a surprising gain or coup: "They . . . score in places like the bond market" (Mike Barnicle).
   2. To succeed in seducing someone sexually.
   3. To succeed in buying or obtaining an illicit drug.

[Middle English, from Old English scoru, twenty, from Old Norse skor.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.