noun
Meaning 1
A lawyer.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, usually
Topics: law
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
esquire
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /ɪˈskwaɪə/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /ˈɛskwaɪɚ/
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rhymes with -aɪə(ɹ)
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CMU ARPABET: EH1 S K W AY2 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A male member of the gentry ranking below a knight.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
An honorific sometimes placed after a man's name.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A gentleman who attends or escorts a lady in public.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
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).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: rare
Topics: government, heraldry, hobbies, lifestyle, monarchy, nobility, politics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To attend, wait on, escort.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
a title of respect for a member of the English gentry ranking just below a knight; placed after the name
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Esq
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: man, adult male
noun
Meaning 10
(Middle Ages) an attendant and shield bearer to a knight; a candidate for knighthood
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: attendant, attender, tender
History
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.
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.
Across languages
Translations
28 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Dutch: jonkheer — male member of the gentry ranking below a knight
- Dutch: jonker — male member of the gentry ranking below a knight
- Galician: escudeiro — male member of the gentry ranking below a knight
- Ancient Greek: ὀπάων (opáōn) — male member of the gentry ranking below a knight
- Polish: esquire — male member of the gentry ranking below a knight
- Bulgarian: рицарски кандидат (ricarski kandidat) — squire
- French: écuyer — squire
- Galician: escudeiro — squire
- Macedonian: штито́носец (štitónosec) — squire
- Macedonian: оруже́носец (oružénosec) — squire
- Polish: giermek — squire
- Russian: эсква́йр (eskvájr) — squire
- Russian: сквайр (skvajr) — squire
- Spanish: escudero — squire
- Bulgarian: оръжено́сец (orǎženósec) — shield bearer
- French: écuyer — shield bearer
- German: Schildknappe — shield bearer
- German: Knappe — shield bearer
- Macedonian: штито́носец (štitónosec) — shield bearer
- Polish: giermek — shield bearer
- Russian: оружено́сец (oruženósec) — shield bearer
- Spanish: escudero — shield bearer
- Macedonian: кавале́р (kavalér) — gentleman who escorts a lady in public
- Polish: kawaler — gentleman who escorts a lady in public
- Russian: кавале́р (kavalér) — gentleman who escorts a lady in public
- Spanish: acompañante — gentleman who escorts a lady in public
- French: Maître — title for a lawyer
- Polish: mecenas — title for a lawyer
Real reading context