esquire
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esquire¹
- /ɪˈskwaɪə/ UK
- /ˈɛskwaɪɚ/ US
Rhymes with -aɪə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
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.
noun esquires
- A lawyer.
- A male member of the gentry ranking below a knight. I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of the county, and one of the king's justices of the peace.
- An honorific sometimes placed after a man's name.
- A gentleman who attends or escorts a lady in public.
- A squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight
- A shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants. The office of the esquire consisted of several departments; the esquire for the body, the esquire of the chamber, the esquire of the stable, and the carving esquire; the latter stood in the hall at dinner, carved the different dishes, and distributed them to the guests.
verb esquires · esquiring · esquired
- To attend, wait on, escort.
esquire²
- /ɪˈskwaɪə/ UK
- /ˈɛskwaɪɚ/ US
Rhymes with -aɪə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
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.
noun esquires
- 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.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: esq, escort, knight, squire, chevalier, mode, char, redhorse, equire, esquireship, armiger, serjeant, squirearch, solicitor, serjeant-at-law, sergeant
Translations
Every language
noun title for a lawyer
| Français | Maître |
|---|
noun gentleman who escorts a lady in public
| Español | acompañante |
|---|---|
| Русский | кавале́р kavalér |
noun shield bearer
| Español | escudero |
|---|---|
| Français | écuyer |
| Deutsch | Schildknappe, Knappe |
| Русский | оружено́сец oruženósec |
Talk about this word "esquire." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/esquire. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. esquire. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/esquire "esquire." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/esquire.Cite this
@misc{esquire_2026,
title = {esquire},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/esquire},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
