Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to get hold of.

2. to succeed, to do well.

1883		Bristol Magpie 15 Feb. 12/1: The ‘Dumb Man of Manchester,’ in which Mr. Will White ‘scored’ on Saturday, is to be repeated on Friday.
1887		‘’Arry on Law and Order’ in Punch 26 Nov. 249/1: His Radical rot about ‘ransom’ won’t turn up agen; it don’t score.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 8 Jan. 5/4: For the first—and probably last—time in his life the Pote has scored in polite society.
1900		P. White West End 154: If to fancy yourself in love with a married woman ten years older than yourself is, in Archie’s language, to ‘score,’ he is right.
1910		Magnet 27 Aug. 11: It’s a bit thick if Bunter is to score all along the line like this, after acting the goat in that way.
1918		C.J. Dennis ‘Jim’s Girl’ in Digger Smith 68: You ’ave a fly; yeh’re sure to score.
1927		Macon Tel. (GA) 9 Oct. in Tosches (2001) n.p.: Miller scored a second time with Phil Pavey in a clever bit of patter and a tuneful number.
1947		A. Baer in Waterloo (IA) Daily Courier 19 Jan. 35/1: A sleeper is something that sneaks up on you and scores without publicity.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 14: It’s an election year and the Governor wants to score.
1961		M. Braly Felony Tank (1962) 105: If we don’t score here, we’ll have time for something else.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 253: score (v) Succeed in achieving some desired objective.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Score. Succeed in achieving a result […].
1997		M. Walters Echo 312: Means she’s scored, doesn’t it? Means she ain’t no pushover.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 14: He could score somehow — no immediate prospects, but you never knew.

3. (orig. US, also score on) to seduce, to have sexual intercourse (with).

1888		‘’Arry at a Radical Reception’ in Punch 12 May 219/1: It ain’t every sportsman, dear boy, as can chuck on the war-paint and score.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Polyglot Policeman’ Sporting Times 1 Apr. 1/4: That rozzer isn’t in it, and he hasn’t scored a chalk, / He’s fair gone on her, but cannot give it lung; / For, through having everlastingly to jabber foreign talk, / He’s forgotten how to speak his native tongue!
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 12 July 8/3: They Say [...] Teddy B. [...] reckons he can score Maggie W. any day.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 112: If he expected to score, he was disappointed.
1939		J. Weidman What’s In It For Me? 37: I was scoring on models and better when you were still boffing flat-heeled comics at City College.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 22: I scored with that redhead from the Chez Paris last night.
1955		‘Hal Ellson’ Rock 73: Anyway, I’m still going to score on Ella.
1959		A. Zugsmith Beat Generation 24: When all I want is to score with you.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 33: It doesn’t really matter if I don’t score at this place.
1979		Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 90: Garry thought he could really score this time.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 99: I could have hit the odd one between the legs like a plate of porridge too, but I’ve never scored with one.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 121: Macca? He couldn’t score with a two-quid hooer.
2003		T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 339: That one character you have who can never seem to score – he’s overstayed his welcome.
2016		‘Chelsea G. Summers’ in Hazlitt.net 8 Jan. 🌐 We don’t have sexual intercourse—we ‘get busy,’ ‘hit it,’ ‘do the nasty,’ ‘get some,’ ‘score,’ and perform countless other acts that we refer to by adorable, horrifying, and illuminating turns of phrase.
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles : He could lift her in his ams and score her back on thiis wall.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 14: A kid like this, he’s scoring with little Antonina?

4. to commit a robbery, to make a dishonest gain, to filch something from a counter or stall.

1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 157: When [a thief] gets money he immediately makes tracks for some hangout where he throws a few dollars on the bar just to ‘give the house a tumble’ and let them guss where he ‘scored’ and how much he got.
1943		W.R. Burnett Nobody Lives for Ever 138: ‘Well, Mr. Farrar,’ said Shake with a placid smile. ‘I understand you scored.’ [...] ‘Yes, boys: I scored. Now Mr. Doyle’s going to pay you off’.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 25: We had scored for about $1700 cash each.
1968		Oz 8 2: Kate and I scored his Travellers Cheques and passport.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 47: You wouldn’t think it was such a big deal to score an old master.

5. (also score (for) a connection, score one’s connection) to buy drugs.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Scored, made a purchase of dope.
1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 125/2: score or score a connection or score for a connection.To purchase narcotics from a peddler.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 291: He was going to have to score for M.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 11: I drifted along taking shots when I could score.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 18: Listen, man, I ain’t scored my connection.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 33: I couldn’t score, see, ’cause of the panic. I couldn’t find nobody.
1971		‘Hassan-i-Sabbah’ Leaves of Grass 21: A Quid Deal, if you must score, should be purchased from someone you know.
1983		V. Viidikas ‘Island of Gems’ in India Ink (1984) 42: ‘Things are very bad,’ he says, ‘for scoring. The Indonesian Goovernment burnt all the ganja’.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Score. Succeed in achieving a result. Often used in the sense ‘I scored’ meaning success was achieved in purchasing drugs.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 151: You could crash there and you could score [...] Decent five-pound deals.
2000		M. Amis Experience 52: You could always tell when Mum had scored.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] Betty scored some Es.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 30: I smoked weed and scored uppers.
2017		Sydney Morn. Herald 10 July 🌐 Many a night he’d perform on stage, head out to do some ‘burgs’ and then score.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘We have to go score’ [...] He can see they’re both jonesing.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 392: Someone who has a drug addiction, who’s just scored some heroin.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 323: He knew he was scoring a big big bump of carlos.

6. in context of commercial sex.

7. (S.Afr.) to give, to pass over.

1989

B. Simon ‘Score Me the Ages’ Born in the RSA (1997) 134: lennie: Score me that Chestie. boykie: Sure (gives him cigarette).

8. (US police) for a corrupt policeman to extort an ad hoc payment from a violator so as to remit a threatened arrest.

1972		Knapp Commission Report Dec. 66: A ‘score’ is a one-time payment that an officer might solicit from, for example, a motorist or a narcotics violator. The term is also used as a verb, as in ‘I scored him for $1,500’.
1972		Knapp Commission Report Dec. 83: When police decided to score gamblers, they would most often flake people with gambling slips, then demand $25 or $50 for not arresting them. Other times, they would simply threaten a flake and demand money.

9. (US und.) to target for a robbery.

2012

T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 35: [A] two-bit hood [...] who thought it would be a good idea to score a house full of thieves.

10. (UK black/gang) to kill or injure a rival.

2018-20

T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Score - kill or injure an enemy.