early 14c., "a split, a breaking, an act of tearing or rending," from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish and Norwegian rift "a cleft," Old Icelandic ript (pronounced "rift") "breach;" related to Old Norse ripa, rifa "to tear apart, break a contract" (see riven). Probably influenced in Middle English by rive (v.).

From late 14c. as "a cleft, fissure, or chasm in the earth;" by c. 1400 as "a crack, split, or similar opening" in anything. Figurative use from 1620s. Specific modern geological sense of "large fault running parallel to the relief" is by 1921. As a verb, c. 1300, "to split, form fissures, gape open."

"of or pertaining to river banks, situated on or near a river bank," 1849, with -an + Latin riparius "of a river bank," from riparia "shore," later used in reference to the stream flowing between the banks, from ripa "(steep) bank of a river, shore."

This is probably etymologically "break" (and indicating the drop off from ground level to the stream bed), or else "that which is cut out by the river," from PIE root *rei- "to scratch, tear, cut" (source also of Greek ereipia "ruins," eripne "slope, precipice;" Old Norse rifa "break, to tear apart;" Danish rift "breach," Middle High German rif "riverbank, seashore;" English riven, rift).

Riparious, of animals, "living on or in river banks," is from 1650s.

"a crack, a cleft, a fissure," mid-14c., crevace, from Old French crevace (12c., Modern French crevasse) "gap, rift, crack" (also, vulgarly, "the female pudenda"), from Vulgar Latin *crepacia, from Latin crepare "to crack, creak" (see raven). Between Latin and French the meaning shifted from the sound of breaking to the resulting fissure.

1570s, alteration (by influence of cleft, new weak past participle of cleave (v.1)), of Middle English clift "fissure, rift, space or opening made by cleaving" (early 14c.), from Old English geclyft (adj.) "split, cloven," from Proto-Germanic *kluftis (compare Old High German chluft, German Kluft, Danish kløft "cleft, fissure, gap"), from PIE root *gleubh- "to tear apart, cleave." In Middle English anatomy, it meant "the parting of the thighs" (early 14c.).

late Old English scoru "twenty," from Old Norse skor "mark, notch, incision; a rift in rock," also, in Icelandic, "twenty," from Proto-Germanic *skur-, from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut."

The notion probably is of counting large numbers (of a passing flock of sheep, etc.) by making a notch in a stick for each 20. The prehistoric sense of the Germanic word, then, likely was "straight mark like a scratch, line drawn by a sharp instrument." That way of counting, called vigesimalism, is widespread and also exists in France and left its trace in the language: In Old French, "twenty" (vint) or a multiple of it could be used as a base, as in vint et doze ("32"), dous vinz et diz ("50"). Vigesimalism was or is a feature of Welsh, Irish, Gaelic and Breton (as well as non-IE Basque), and it is speculated that the English and the French learned it from the Celts. Compare tally (n.).

By early 13c. it is attested in the sense of "a financial record" (perhaps one kept by tallies), and it is attested from early 14c. as "reckoning, total amount." The specific sense of "a reckoning or account kept by means of tallies" is clearly attested by c. 1400, especially (1590s) "mark made (by chalk, on a taproom door, etc.) to keep count of a customer's drinks."

This was extended by c. 1600 to "amount due, one's debt," and by 1670s to "mark made for purpose of recording a point in a game or match," and thus "aggregate of points made by contestants in certain games and matches" (1742, in whist).

The sporting score-card is by 1877 (in cricket). The newspaper sports section score line is by 1965. Score-keeping in sports is by 1905. From the tavern-keeping sense comes the meaning "amount on an innkeeper's bill" (c. 1600) and thus the figurative verbal expression settle scores (1775; as cut scores, 1610s).

Meaning "printed piece of music" is recorded by 1701, said to be from the practice of connecting related staves by scores (in the "line drawn" sense). Especially "music composed for a film" (1927). In underworld slang, "money obtained in a crime," 1914. Meaning "an act of obtaining narcotic drugs" is by 1951.

The meaning "a cut, notch, scratch or line made by a sharp instrument," without reference to counting, is attested from c. 1400. By c. 1600 as "a line drawn."