Word.ws English Dictionary

squire

UK/ˈskwaɪə//ˈskwaɪɚ/

squire noun: a shield-bearer or armor-bearer who attended a knight.

Noun (1)

squire (plural squires)

  1. A shield-bearer or armor-bearer who attended a knight.
    • A Squire he had, whose name was Ralph[.]1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, London, page 18
  2. (error-lua-exec) A title of dignity next in degree below knight, and above gentleman. See esquire.
  3. A male attendant on a great personage.
  4. (historical) A landowner from the English gentry during the early modern period.
    • Third Suitor was Young Country Squire, well born,
      Perſon indifferent, Cloaths (fondly worn)[.]1684, John Harington, The Grecian Story, London: William Crook, page 89
  5. A devoted attendant or follower of a lady; a beau.
  6. A title of office and courtesy. See under esquire.
  7. (UK, colloquial) A term of address to a male equal.
    • Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh, we're right out of parrots.1969, Dead Parrot sketch, Monty Python's Flying Circus
  8. An Australian snapper (Chrysophrys auratus), a food fish also found in eastern Asia.
    Synonyms:
    silver seabream, Pagrus auratus
  9. A grass emperor (Lethrinus laticaudis), of coral reefs of the western Pacific.

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To attend as a squire.
  2. (transitive) To attend as a beau, or gallant, for aid and protection.
    • [O]n ſome occaſions, he diſplayed all his fund of good humour, vvith a vievv to beguile her ſorrovv; 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, vvhich he...1753, [Tobias Smollett], “Count Fathom Unmasks His Battery; is Repulsed; and Varies His Operations without Effect”, in The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom. […], volume II, London: […] W....
    • Perceiving, however, that I had on my best wig, she offered, if I would ’squire her there, to send home the footman.1759 October 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Oliver] Goldsmith, “On Dress”, in The Bee, a Select Collection of Essays, on the Most Interesting and Entertaining Subjects, […], new edition, London: […]...
    Synonyms:
    escort

Noun (2)

squire (plural squires)

  1. (obsolete) A ruler; a carpenter's square; a measure.
    • But temperaunce, said he, with golden squire, / Betwixt them both can measure out a meane.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • do not you know my lady's foot by the squire.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]...

Proper noun capitalized: Squire

Squire (countable and uncountable, plural Squires)

  1. A surname originating as an occupation.
  2. An unincorporated community in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States.

squire meaning in Bengali, Malayalam and Malay

squire in Bengali

জমিদার, অনুচর

squire in Malayalam

ജന്മി, പ്രമാണി, സഹചരൻ

squire in Malay

armor-bearer who attended a knight
khadam

Examples of squire in a sentence

  • To man a lady was, in former times, a phrase similar to the vulgar one at present in use, to squire.1812, Henry [William] Weber, “The Spanish Curate”, in [John Fletcher, Philip Massinger], edited by Henry Weber, The Works of Beaumont and...
  • as for a workman not to know his axe, saw, squire, or any other toole, […].1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield...

All 26 example sentences with squire

Synonyms of squire

  • silver seabream
  • Pagrus auratus
  • escort

Forms of squire

Noun
pluralsquires
Verb
third-person singular presentsquires
present participlesquiring
past participlesquired
pastsquired
Proper noun
pluralSquires

Plural of squire: squires

Origin of squire

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

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.

Words formed from squire

Words that rhyme with squire

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about squire

What does squire mean?
Squire means a shield-bearer or armor-bearer who attended a knight.
What is squire in Bengali?
Squire in Bengali is জমিদার, অনুচর. See Squire meaning in Bengali.
How do you use squire in a sentence?
To man a lady was, in former times, a phrase similar to the vulgar one at present in use, to squire.
What part of speech is squire?
Squire can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce squire?
Squire is pronounced /ˈskwaɪə/ (UK).
What is the plural of squire?
The plural of squire is squires.

Words near squire in the dictionary

  1. squirarchs
  2. squirarchy
  3. squircle
  4. squircles
  5. squircular
  6. squire
  7. squire of dames
  8. squireage
  9. squirearch
  10. squirearchal
  11. squirearchical

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: squire (page history and authors); Squire (page history and authors); squire (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); squire (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-squire.ogg.

Cite this entry: “squire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/squire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.