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Origin documented
“Four score and seven years ago”
What it means
Eighty-seven years ago.
Where it comes from
A score is twenty, from the notch scored into a tally stick at every twentieth count. Tally sticks were used for English exchequer accounting until 1826.
How sure are we?
The counting unit is well attested, and Lincoln was not being poetic so much as using the accounting language of his day. The score survives in scoreboard and in keeping score.