scorch 
a part of the figure. To char is to reduce to carbon or a 
black cinder, especially on the surface: when a timber is 
charred it is burned black on the outside and to an uncer- 
tain depth. Parch has a possible meaning of burning su- 
perficially or roasting, as in parched corn or peanuts, but 
almost always refers to drying or shriveling. 
II. in trans. To be bunied on the surface ; be- 
come parched or drieil up. 
Scatter a little mungy straw or fern amongst your seed- 
lings, to prevent the roots from scorching. 
Mortimer, Husbandry. 
scorched (skorcht), ;;. a. 1. Burned; parched 
with heat. 
As the scorch'd locusts from their fields retire, 
While fast behind them runs the blaze of fire. 
Pope, Iliad, xxi. 14. 
2. In zool., colored as if scorched or singed. 
scorched-carpet (sk6rcht'kiir"pet), . A Brit- 
ish geometric! moth, Liydia adustata. 
scorched-wing (skorcht' wing), w. A British 
geometrid moth, Eurymene dolabraria. 
scorcher (skor'cher), n. [< scorcJi, v., + -er 1 .] 
1. Anything that burns or parches; anything 
that is very hot : as, this day has been a scorcher. 
2. Anything caustic, biting, or severe: as, 
that critique was a scorclter. [Chiefly slang in 
both uses.] 
scorching (skor'ching), n. [Verbal n. of scorch, 
t\] In metal-working, the process of roughing 
out tools on a dry grindstone before they are 
hardened and tempered. It is so called from 
the great heat produced. E. H. Knight. 
scorching (skdr'ching), p. a. 1. Burning; tor- 
rid ; very hot. 
He again retlr'd, to shun 
The scorching Ardour of the Mid-day Sun. 
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
These rains [of India] were no sooner over than they 
were succeeded by a scorching sun. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 371. 
2. Causing a sensation as of burning ; sting- 
ing; hence, figuratively, bitterly sarcastic or 
upbraiding; caustic; scathing. 
The first senior to the bat made first-base on a scorch- 
ing grounder past third. St. Nicholas, XVII. 945. 
scorchingly (skor'ching-li), adv. In a scorch- 
ing manner; so as to scorch or burn the sur- 
face. 
scorchingness (skor'ching-nes), . The prop- 
erty of scorching or burning. 
scorclet, scorklet, r. t. [ME. : see scorch.] To 
scorch; burn. 
Ek Nero governede alle the poeples that the vyolent 
wynd Nothus scorklith. Chaucer, Boethius, li. meter 6. 
scorcnet, . t. [ME. : see scorch.] To scorch. 
For thatt te land wass drijxedd alle 
And tcorrcnedd thurrh the druhhthe. 
Ormulwn, 1. 8626. 
SCOrdatO (skor-da'to), a. [It., prop. pp. of scor- 
dare, be out of tune: see discord.] In music, 
put out of tune ; tuned in an unusual manner 
for the purpose of producing particular effects. 
SCOrdatura (skor-da-to'ra), . [It., (.scordare, 
be out of tune : see sc<irddto.~] In stringed musi- 
cal instruments, an intentional deviation from 
the usual tuning of the strings for some special 
effect; the altering of the proper accordatura. 
The violoncello is less amenable to the scordatura than 
the violin. Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 245. 
scordium (skor'di-um), . [NL.. < L. scordion, 
< Gr. aaopSiov, a plant smelling like garlic, per- 
haps water-germander, < ampfiov, contr. for 
anopo&v, garlic.] An old name of the water- 
germander, Teucrium Scordium. 
score 1 (skor), . [< ME. score, skore, schore, a 
notch, score, < AS. scor, a score, twenty (de- 
noted by a long cut on a stick) (= Icel. skora 
= Sw. sk&ra = Dan. skaar, a score, notch, in- 
cision), < sccran (pp. scoren), cut, shear: see 
shear 1 , and cf. shore 1 . For a specific seuse, cf. 
E. tally and G. kerb-holz, a tally-score, reckon- 
ing.] 1. A notch; a crack; a fissure; a cleft. 
Than shall thou go the dore bifore, 
If thou maist fynden ony score, 
Or hole, or reeft, whatevere it were, 
Than shalt thou stoupe and lay to ere 
If they withynne aslepe be. 
Rom. of the Rote, 1. 2660. 
(Sixteenth-century editions have shore.] 
2. Especially, a notch or cut made on a tally in 
keeping count of something: formerly a usual 
mode of reckoning; also, the tally or stick it- 
self; hence, any mark used in reckoning or 
keeping count. 
Score or tallie of wood whereon a number of things de- 
livered is marked. Bant, Alvearie. 
Whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but 
the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be 
used. Shalt., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 7. 3& 
5408 
3. A reckoning or account keptbyscores, marks, 
or otherwise, as the reckoning for unpaid pota- 
tions marked with chalk on the tap-room door 
of a public house ; hence, a reckoning or account 
in general : as, to keep the score. 
E'en now the godlike Brutus views his score 
Scroll'd on the bar-board, swinging with the door. 
Crabbe. 
We reckon the marks he has chalked on the door, 
Fay up and shake hands and begin a new score. 
0. W. Holmes, Our Banker. 
4. The marks, or the sum of the marks, placed 
to one's debit; amount'due; debt. 
They say he parted well, and paid his score. 
Shak., Macbeth, v. 8. 62. 
Now when In the Morning Matt ask'd for the Score, 
John kindly had paid it tne Ev'ning before. 
Prior, Down-Hall, st. 24. 
The week's score at the public-house is paid up and a 
fresh one started. Contemporary Rev., L. 80. 
5. The aggregate of points made by contes- 
tants in certain games or matches : as, he makes 
a good score at cricket or base-ball ; the score 
stood 5 to 1. Hence 6. The detailed record 
or register of the various points or items of play 
made by players in a game or by competitors 
in a match. 7. Account; reason; ground; mo- 
tive. 
I see no reason for disbelieving one attested story of 
this nature more than another on the score of absurdity. 
Lamb, Witches. 
The habitual scowl of her brow was, undeniably, too nerce, 
at this moment, to pass itself off on the innocent score of 
near-sightedness. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viii. 
8. A line drawn ; a long superficial scratch or 
mark. 
A letter 's like the music that the ladies have for their 
spinets naething but black scores, compared to the same 
tune played or sung. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvii. 
Specifically, the line at which a marksman stands in tar- 
get-shooting, or which forms the "scratch" or starting- 
point in a race. 
In case of breech-loaders, the party called to the score 
shall not place his cartridge in the gun until he arrives at 
the score. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 506. 
9. In muxic, a written or printed draft or copy 
of a composition on a set of two or more staffs 
braced and barred together, in a full or orchestral 
score, a separate staff is assigned to each instrument and 
voice, so that it contains all that is indicated in all the In- 
strumental or vocal parts taken together. A vocal or piano 
score is one in which the voice-parts are given in full, usu- 
ally on separate staffs, while the accompaniment is con- 
densed into two stalls for performance on a pianoforte or 
organ. An organ score is either the same as the last or 
one in which three staffs are used, as in regular organ 
music. A score in which more than one part is written on 
a staff is called short, close, or compressed, especially in the 
case of four-part vocul music when written on two staffs ; 
but these terms are also occasionally appliedtoan abridged 
or skeleton transcription. In an orchestral score the vari- 
ous parts are usually grouped, so that instruments of the 
same class appear together. The usual arrangement is 
(read downward) wood wind (flutes, oboes, clarinets, bas- 
soons), brass wind (horns, trumpets, trombones), percus- 
sives (tympani, cymbals), upper strings (violins, violas), 
voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), lower strings (violon- 
cellos, double basses); but considerable variations from 
this order occur. The arts of reading from a full score, 
and of transcribing for the pianoforte from such a score, 
are among the most difficult branches of musical accom- 
plishment. Also partition. 
I use the phrase in score, as Dr. Johnson has explained 
it in his Dictionary : "A song in score, the words with the 
musical notes of a song annexed. " But I understand that 
in scientific propriety it means all the parts of a musical 
composition noted down In the characters by which it is 
exhibited to the eye of the skilful. 
Boswell, Life of Johnson, ict. 66, note. 
10. The number twenty, as being marked off 
by a special score or tally, or a separate series 
of marks ; twenty. 
Att Southamptone on the see es sevene skore chippes, 
ffrawghte fulle of ferse folke, owt of ferre landes. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 3549. 
The munday aftyr Palme sonday I cam to Lyon, which 
was a long Jorney, xij scor myle and x. 
Torkington, Diane of Eng. Travel!, p. 2. 
They chose divers scores men, who had no learning nor 
judgment which might fit them for those affairs. 
Winthrop, Hist. Near England, I. 344. 
(at) In old archery, twenty yards : thus, a mark of twelve 
score meant a mark at the distance of 240 yards. 
Ful flfteene score your marke shall be. 
Robin Uood and Queen Katherine (Child's Ballads, V. 316). 
A' would have clapped 1' the clout at twelve score, and 
carried you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and 
a half, that it would have done a man's heart good to see. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 2. 52. 
(&) Twenty pounds weight : as, a score of meal. [Ireland 
and West of Eng.] 
ll.Naut.-.(a) The groove cut in the side and bot- 
tom of a block or deadeye for the strapping to 
fit in. (6) A notch or groove made in a piece 
of timber or metal to allow another piece to be 
neatlv fitted into it. 
scorer 
The scores are then cut on the upper side of the keel to 
receive the floors and filling floors. 
Thearle, Naval Arch., g 178. 
Supplementary score, in music, an appendix to a full 
score, giving a part or parts that had been omitted for 
lack of space upon the page. - To go off at score, in pe- 
destrianism, to make a spirited start from the score or 
scratch ; hence, to start off in general. 
He went of at score, and made pace so strong that he cut 
them all down. Lawrence, Sword and Gown. 
To pay off old scores. See payi. To quit scores. 
See (HP. 
I'll soon with Jenny's Pride quit Score, 
Make all her Lovers fall. 
Prior, The Female Phaeton, st, 7. 
score 1 (skor), r. ; pret. and pp. scored, ppr. scor- 
ia;/. [< ME. scoren, skoren, notch, count, = Icel. 
skora = Dan. skaare, score; from the noun.] 
1. trans. 1. To make scores or cuts in or upon; 
mark with incisions, notches, or grooves ; fur- 
row j slash ; specifically, to make a long shallow 
cut in (cardboard or very thick paper), so that 
the card or paper can be bent without break- 
ing, as for book-covers or folded cards. 
Let us score their backs, 
And snatch 'cm up, as we take hares, behind. 
Shak., A. and C., iv. 7. 12. 
The scored state of the grooves in almost every large 
planing machine testifies to the great amount of friction 
which still exists between the sliding surfaces. 
C. P. B. Shelley, Workshop Appliances, p. -ill. 
2. To incise ; engrave. 
Upon his shield the like was also scar' A. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. I. 2. 
3. To stripe ; braid. 
A pair of velvet slops scored thick with lace. 
Middleton, Black Book. 
4. To mark or record by a cut or score; in 
general, to mark; note; record. 
Draw your Just sword, 
And score your vengeance on my front and face. 
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 1. 
Or shall each leaf, 
Which falls in autumn, sc<ere a grief? 
G. Herbert, The Temple, Good Friday. 
An hundred Loves at Athens score, 
At Corinth write an hundred more. 
Cowley, Anacreontics, vi. 
5. To set down, enter, or charge as a debt or 
debtor: sometimes with up. 
Ther-fore on his gerde [tally] skore shalle he 
Alle messys in halle that seruet be. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 312. 
Score a gallon of sack and a pint of olives to the Uni- 
corn. Beau, and Fl., Captain, iv. 2. 
It was their [the crusaders'] very judgment that hereby 
they did both merit and supererogate, and, by dying for 
the cross, cross the score of their sins, score up God as 
their debtor. Fuller. 
6. To succeed in making or winning and hav- 
ing entered to one's account or credit, as points, 
hits, runs, etc., in certain games ; make a score 
of: as, he scored twenty runs ; to score another 
victory. 
She felt that she had scored the first success in the en- 
counter. ./. Hawthorne, Dust, p. 159. 
In the four games [base-ball] between New York and 
Chicago, New York scored 37 runs to Chicago's 31. 
N. Y. Evening Post, June 28, 1889. 
7. In music: (a) To write out in score; tran- 
scribe. (6) Same as orchestrate: as, the move- 
ment is scored for brass and strings only, (c) 
To arrange for a different instrument. 8. 
Milit., to produce erosion of (the bore of a gun) 
by the explosion of large charges. Scored pul- 
ley. See pulley. 
II. intrant. 1. To keep the score or reck- 
oning; act as scorer. 2. To make points or 
runs in a game; succeed in having points or 
runs entered to one's credit or account; also, 
to be a winner or have the advantage : as, in 
the first inning he failed to score; A struggled 
hard, but B scored. 3. To run up a score; be 
or become a purchaser on credit. 
It is the commonest thing that can bee for these Cap- 
taines to score and to score ; but when the scores are to be 
paid, Non est inventus. 
Heywood, Fair Maid of the West (Works, IL 275). 
SCOre 2 t, '' A Middle English form of scour 1 . 
scorer (skor'er),. [< score 1 , ., + -<r 1 .] l.One 
who or that which scores or notches, (a) An in- 
strument used by woodmen in marking numbers, etc., on 
forest-trees. (6) An instrumentfor cutting across the face 
of a board, so that It can be planed without slivering. E. 
H. Knight. 
2. One who scores or records a score ; specifi- 
cally, one who keeps the score or marks the 
game in cricket, base-ball, a shooting-match, 
or the like. 
There is one scorer, who records the order in which 
contestants finish, as well as their time. 
The Century. XL. 20ft. 
