Skip to content

esquire

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L320252 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɪˈskwaɪə/ / /ˈɛskwaɪɚ/

noun

Etymology: Old French esquiere, esquierre, esquarre (“a square”) (whence modern French équerre), perhaps via a form like based esquire from bas d'esquire ("bottom of a square"), whence attested forms base (e)squire, e(s)quire bast.

  1. The lower of the halves into which a square is divided diagonally, a single gyron, but potentially larger (extending across the shield) or smaller (for example, on Mortimer's arms).

    Thre pallets between ij Esquires bast dexter and sinister of the second.

    Mortimer, Barry of 6, or & az. an inescutcheon arg. on a chief of the first 2 pallets between as many base esquires of the second.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English esquier, from Old French escuyer, escuier, properly, a shield-bearer (compare modern French écuyer (“shield-bearer, armor-bearer, squire of a knight, esquire, equerry, rider, horseman”)), from Late Latin scūtārius (“shieldmaker, shield-bearer”), from Latin scūtum (“shield”); probably akin to English hide (“to cover”). The term squire is the result of apheresis. Compare equerry, escutcheon.

  1. To attend, wait on, escort.