chalk up

British  

verb

1. to score or register (something)

   we chalked up 100 in the game

2. to credit (money) to an account etc (esp in the phrase chalk it up )

---

chalk up Idioms  

1. Score or earn, as in She chalked up enough points to be seeded first in the tournament . This term alludes to recording accounts (and later, scores) in chalk on a slate. [c. 1700]

2. Credit or ascribe, as They chalked their success up to experience . [First half of 1900s]

---

Example Sentences

The recent moves can be chalked up to “heightened geopolitical risk and a broader move away from the US Dollar,” Deutsche Bank strategist Henry Allen said Wednesday.

From Barron's

Gold’s impressive run of form can be chalked up to the so-called debasement trade, in which investors retreat from assets like the U.S. dollar due to concerns around fiat currencies.

From Barron's

Some of it he chalks up to bad luck.

From The Wall Street Journal

If he weren’t a trauma doctor, you might chalk up the missing headgear to romantic imagery and an homage to “Then Came Bronson.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Baffled, Redick said at practice that he chalked up the mistakes to “the holidays.”

From Los Angeles Times