squire

See also: Squire

English

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskwaɪə/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskwaɪəɹ/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English esquire, from Old French escuier, from Latin scūtārius (“shield-bearer”), from scūtum (“shield”).

Noun

squire (plural squires)

A shield-bearer or armor-bearer who attended a knight.
A title of dignity next in degree below knight, and above gentleman. See esquire.
A male attendant on a great personage.
(historical) A landowner from the English gentry during the early modern period.
A devoted attendant or follower of a lady; a beau.
A title of office and courtesy. See under esquire.
(UK, colloquial) Term of address to a male equal.
- 1969, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Dead Parrot sketch
  Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh, we're right out of parrots.

Derived terms

squarson
squirearchy
squiress

Translations

armor-bearer who attended a knight

Belarusian: збраяносец m (zbrajanósjec)
Bulgarian: оръжено́сец m (orǎženósec)
Catalan: escuder (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 侍衛 (si⁶ wai⁶)
Danish: væbner c
Dutch: schildknaap (nl) m
Esperanto: varleto
Finnish: aseenkantaja (fi)
French: écuyer (fr) m
Galician: escudeiro m, escudeiro m
German: Schildknappe m, Knappe (de) m, Edelknecht m
Hungarian: fegyverhordozó (hu), fegyvernök (hu)
Ido: skudiero (io)
Italian: scudiero (it) m
Latin: armiger m
Macedonian: штитоно́сец m (štitonósec)
Polish: giermek m
Portuguese: escudeiro m
Romanian: moșier (ro) m
Russian: оружено́сец (ru) m (oruženósec)
Spanish: escudero (es) m
Swedish: väpnare (sv) c, vapendragare (sv) c
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

title of dignity

French: seigneur (fr) m, châtelain (fr) m
Galician: escudeiro m
German: Kavalier (de) m
Hungarian: földesúr (hu), hűbérúr (hu)
Italian: gentiluomo (it) m, nobiluomo (it) m di (it) campagna (it) f, castellano m
Russian: сквайр (ru) m (skvajr), эсква́йр (ru) m (eskvájr), поме́щик (ru) m (poméščik) (landowner), кавале́р (ru) m (kavalér)

male attendant

French: valet (fr) m, majordome (fr) m
German: Galan (de) m
Italian: valletto (it) m, maggiordomo (it) m
Macedonian: момок m (momok)
Russian: камерди́нер (ru) m (kamerdíner)

male follower of a lady

Bulgarian: кавалер (bg) m (kavaler)
Danish: kavaler c
Finnish: seuralainen (fi), kavaljeeri (fi)
French: cavalier (fr) m, escorte (fr) f
Hungarian: lovag (hu), gavallér (hu), udvarló (hu)
Italian: cicisbeo (it) m
Russian: кавале́р (ru) m (kavalér)

title of office and courtesy

Finnish: herra (fi)
Hungarian: uraság (hu), úr (hu)
Italian: gentiluomo (it) m
Russian: господи́н (ru) m (gospodín)

Verb

squire (third-person singular simple present squires, present participle squiring, simple past and past participle squired)

(transitive) To attend as a squire.
(transitive) To attend as a beau, or gallant, for aid and protection.
- 1753, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Shakespeare Head edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Basil Blackwell, […], published 1925, OCLC 219979800:
  On some occasions, he displayed all his fund of good humour, with a view to beguile her sorrow; he importuned her to give him the pleasure of squiring her to some place of innocent entertainment; and, finally, insisted upon her accepting a pecuniary reinforcement to her finances, which he knew to be in a most consumptive condition.
- 1759, Oliver Goldsmith, “On Dress,” in The Bee, 13 October, 1759,
  Perceiving, however, that I had on my best wig, she offered, if I would ’squire her there, to send home the footman.
- 1812, Henry Weber (ed.), The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Volume 3, p. 326, footnote 3,
  To man a lady was, in former times, a phrase similar to the vulgar one at present in use, to squire.
- 1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], “Chapter 4”, in Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., OCLC 277979407:
  Yes, such a thing as thou wouldst make of me should wear a book at his girdle instead of a poniard, and might just be suspected of manhood enough to squire a proud dame-citizen to the lecture at Saint Antonlin’s, and quarrel in her cause with any flat-capped threadmaker that would take the wall of her.
- 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter 1, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, OCLC 1049770437; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, OCLC 20350211:
  And raising good cotton, riding well, shooting straight, dancing lightly, squiring the ladies with elegance and carrying one’s liquor like a gentleman were the things that mattered.
- 1988, Edmund White, The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, 1994, Chapter Six,
  A butch entered squiring a blonde whore tottering along on spike heels under dairy whip hair, her chubby hand rising again and again to tuck a stray wisp back into the creamy dome.
Synonym: escort

Etymology 2

From Middle English squire, borrowed from Middle French esquierre (“rule, carpenter's square”), or from Old French esquire, another form of esquarre (“square”). Cognate with French équerre. Doublet of square.

Noun

squire (plural squires)

(obsolete) A ruler; a carpenter's square; a measure.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
  But temperaunce, said he, with golden squire, / Betwixt them both can measure out a meane.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene ii], line 474:
  do not you know my lady's foot by the squire.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:
  as for a workman not to know his axe, saw, squire, or any other toole, […].
- c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The VVinters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv], line 348:
  twelve foot and a half by the squire.

Anagrams

Squier, quires, risque, risqué, squier

French

Noun

squire m (plural squires)

squire (title)