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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

fourscore en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfɔɹskoɹ/ (US)
  • (US) audio
  • /ˈfɔːskɔː/ (UK)

Etymology

From four + score.

Meanings

  1. A quantity or amount of eighty.
    • W. J. Davis, a retired missionary, a veteran in the fourscores of his years. 1922, James Edward Carruthers, Memories of an Australian Ministry, 1868 to 1921, page 125:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
four score alternative lexicographic
four-score alternative lexicographic
fourscores Number=Plur lexicographic

fourscore en · NUM

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfɔɹskoɹ/ (US)
  • (US) audio
  • /ˈfɔːskɔː/ (UK)

Etymology

From four + score.

Meanings

  1. (archaic) Eighty.
    • 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. 1863 November 19, Abraham Lincoln, Dedicatory Remarks (Gettysburg Address)^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address_(Bliss_copy)), near Soldiers' National Cemetery, →LCCN, Bliss copy, page 1:
    • “I could be sorry for these men,” he said, “ay, and for that poor Queen, but what avail earthly sorrows to a man of fourscore?—and it is a rare dropping morning for the early colewort.” 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in The Abbot. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 353:
    • Thou ſtick'ſt a dagger in me, I ſhall neuer ſee my gold againe, foureſcore ducats at aſitting, foureſcore ducats. 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, [Act III, scene i], page 173:
    • 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. 1914, Saki, ‘The Cobweb’, Beasts and Superbeasts:
    • Euen thoſe that were numbꝛed of them, were eight thouſand, and fiue hundꝛed, and foureſcoꝛe. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 4:48:
  2. (idiomatic) A full-length life, reckoned as eighty years.
    • […] 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. 1986 November 24, Susan Sontag, “The Way We Live Now”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2023:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
four-score alternative lexicographic
four score alternative lexicographic

Relateds

four score and seven years ago · twoscore

Synonyms

three score and ten

Translations (9)

bg осемдесет (eighty — see also eighty) · ca vuitanta (eighty — see also eighty) · nl tachtig (eighty — see also eighty) · fr huitante (eighty — see also eighty) · cy pedwar ugain (eighty — see also eighty) · es ochenta (eighty — see also eighty) · ga cheithre fichid (eighty — see also eighty) · de achtzig (eighty — see also eighty) · fr quatre-vingts (eighty — see also eighty)