squire

noun

1. A shield-bearer or armor-bearer who attended a knight.

   “A Squire he had, whose name was Ralph[.]”

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)[.]”

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.”

8. An Australian snapper (Chrysophrys auratus), a food fish also found in eastern Asia.
9. A grass emperor (Lethrinus laticaudis), of coral reefs of the western Pacific.
10. (obsolete)A ruler; a carpenter's square; a measure.

    “But temperaunce, said he, with golden squire, / Betwixt them both can measure out a meane.”

    “do not you know my lady's foot by the squire.”

    “as for a workman not to know his axe, saw, squire, or any other toole, […].”

    “twelve foot and a half by the squire.”

verb

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 knevv to be in a moſt conſumptive condition.”

   “Perceiving, however, that I had on my best wig, she offered, if I would ’squire her there, to send home the footman.”

   “To man a lady was, in former times, a phrase similar to the vulgar one at present in use, to squire.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

name

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