a score is an archaic term for 20.

two score = 40

"Score" is a word used very rarely to mean "twenty," so "two score" means "forty." For most people the only place they have ever heard the word is in a famous speech given by Abraham Lincoln. At least that's true in the U.S. -- maybe in the U.K. they say it all the time.

thanks @clive

Vipul Jurelthanks @clive

The forum software does not recognize @ as any kind of special character, so it is not appropriate here.

Just write Thanks, Clive.

CJ

Yes, quite common in the UK, more as an approximation than the specific number twenty, as in "I've told you that scores of times". Something implying more than a dozen but less than a gross. I suspect it's falling out of use as kids become indoctrinated with the metric system.

It's familiar to many people from a Bible verse about our life expectancy.

The days of our years are threescore and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow.

(Psalm 90 v 10)

It's probably more familiar to Americans from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which begins

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.

CJ