Meanings
alternative fourscore and seven years ago · alternative four score seven years ago
- humorousidiomaticnot comparableoftenUsed (sometimes sarcastically) to indicate that a past event being mentioned is particularly important: a long time ago; many years ago.
Four score and seven years ago, I began writing an annual letter to be enclosed in my Christmas cards.
2012 February 20, Vicky DeCoster, “The Letter”, in The Wacky World of Womanhood, →ISBN, page 932 more examples
It was established four score and seven years ago, and since that time its activities have been intertwined with the internal development of the Nation itself.
1936 April 16, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Address at the Dedication of the New Department of the Interior BuildingI imagined momentarily that it was four score and seven years ago, that I had just been brought forth from my mother […]
2010 December 23, Phillip Roth, “Prologue”, in The Great American Novel, →ISBN, page 21
Origin
Literally, “87 years ago” (score sense: “group of 20”) the beginning of the Gettysburg Address made on November 19, 1863, by United States President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The widespread familiarity of Lincoln’s address, the unusual and poetic wording, and its status as the first words of the speech have caused the phrase to enter the public consciousness.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
four score and seven years ago. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four%20score%20and%20seven%20years%20ago
“four score and seven years ago.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four%20score%20and%20seven%20years%20ago. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “four score and seven years ago,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four%20score%20and%20seven%20years%20ago.
Source: four score and seven years ago on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.