fourscore

fourscore

English

Etymology

From four +‎ score.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːskɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹskɔɹ/

• Audio (US)

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Numeral

fourscore

1. (now archaic) Eighty.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i], page 173:

     Thou ſtick'ſt a dagger in me, I ſhall neuer ſee my gold againe, foureſcore ducats at aſitting, foureſcore ducats.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Numbers 4:48:

     Euen thoſe that were numbꝛed of them, were eight thouſand, and fiue hundꝛed, and foureſcoꝛe.

   • 1863 November 19, Abraham Lincoln, Dedicatory Remarks (Gettysburg Address)‎, near Soldiers' National Cemetery, LCCN n94107481, Bliss copy, page 1:

     Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

   • 1914, Saki, ‘The Cobweb’, Beasts and Superbeasts:

     Old Martha was standing at a table trussing a pair of chickens for the market stall as she had trussed them for nearly fourscore years.

2. (idiomatic) A full-length life, reckoned as eighty years.

   Synonym: (dated, of biblical origin) three score and ten

   • 1986 November 24, Susan Sontag, “The Way We Live Now”, in The New Yorker‎:

     […] I know every life is equally sacred, but that is a thought, another thought, I mean, all these valuable people who aren’t going to have their normal fourscore as it is now, these people aren’t going to be replaced, and it’s such a loss to the culture.

Related terms

• four score and seven years ago

Translations

4×20

Bulgarian: осемдесет (osemdeset) Catalan: vuitanta (ca) Dutch: tachtig (nl) French: quatre-vingts (fr), (Switzerland) huitante (fr) German: achtzig (de) Irish: cheithre fichid Spanish: ochenta (es) Welsh: pedwar ugain (cy)

See also

• twoscore

Noun

fourscore (plural fourscores)

1. A quantity or amount of eighty.
   • 1922, James Edward Carruthers, Memories of an Australian Ministry, 1868 to 1921 (page 125)

     W. J. Davis, a retired missionary, a veteran in the fourscores of his years.