From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsettle a scoresettle a scoreREVENGEto do something to harm or hurt someone who has harmed or hurt you in the past Jack came back after five years to settle some old scores. → score
Examples from the Corpus
settle a score• She's got a few old scores to settle with her former friend.• Boudjema believes that the opposition parties are settling a score with the Socialist government and using the schoolgirls as a scapegoat.• Stanford settled an old score Friday by defeating Siena 94-72.• Schiavo certainly deserves no credit for scaring people needlessly just to settle a score. 