“ SCORE (O.E. scor, from sceran, to cut, notch, cf. “shear”) , properly a notch or groove cut in a piece of wood, called a “tally” (q.v.) , as a method of counting; hence an account or reckoning made in this way. Either from a custom of keeping each series of twenty numbers or notches on a separate tally, or of marking the twentieth number by a longer or deeper mark, the word was early used to denote the number twenty; it is still used as a measure of weight, equivalent to 20 ℔, computing the weight of animals sold for slaughtering for food. ”