by the score
1
6.9
- idiom
:
por docenas
- When one begins looking for influences, one finds them by the score.
Examples
-
Shortly after Nebraska lost the Ohio State game by the score of 63-38, the teeth grinding around Husker Nation was audible.
Blog text (25) -
To say that J-T's Lady Cats were stunned by the score halfway through the first half would be an understatement.
Blog text (25) -
By his own admission, he had enemies by the score.
Fiction book (1996) -
They came by the score, but only a handful received that Divine Kiss.
Fiction book (1992) -
At the spirals' base, pagodas fell by the score.
Fiction book (2001) -
I would like to see an influx of persecuted Taoists come here by the score.
Blog text (21) -
The Florida Gators defeated the Florida State Seminoles last night by the score of 37 to 26.
Blog text (4) -
When the People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet, it razed monasteries by the score; thousands of books went up in flames.
Academic text (2003) -
Charitable foundations were resettling refugees by the score in St. Louis.
-
New mansions, grander than the old, are rising by the score; keeping servants, it seems, is no longer a problem.
Antonyms
How Many
Surface Forms
Morphology
by + the + score
The phrase is a straightforward composition of 'by' (indicating measurement) + 'the' + 'score' (twenty), so a learner who knows the numeric sense of 'score' can infer 'by the score' = 'in multiples of twenty' or 'in large numbers.' The construction parallels transparent expressions like 'by the dozen' and follows a common measurement pattern, making its meaning predictable from the parts.
Etymology
The phrase by the score comes from an old way of counting: a score meant twenty, so people often counted things in groups of twenty. So by the score now means 'in large numbers'.