esquire

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You will go as my esquire, and I shall install you as such this afternoon.

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Definitions (14)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A man or boy who is a member of the gentry in England ranking directly below a knight.
  2. noun Used as an honorific usually in its abbreviated form, especially after the name of an attorney or a consular officer: Jane Doe, Esq.; John Doe, Esq.
  3. noun In medieval times, a candidate for knighthood who served a knight as an attendant and a shield bearer.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • The word esquire is a synonym of squire and derives from it, but it is a couple of centuries younger.
  • In the USA the term esquire is associated with lawyers.
  • I was advised by the Cardinal de Lenoncourt and my first esquire, the Chevalier Salviati, who were of the same party, not to stir without a passport; but, as I suspected a plan was laid to entrap me, I resolved to set out the next morning. —  Memoirs And Historical Chronicles Of The Courts Of Europe
  • Since Chaucer received no more favours than did the average esquire, there is no particular reason to suppose that he had any patron. —  CHAUCER'S OFFICIAL LIFE
  • That notion likes me well Your Majesty might take me as your esquire, or page," added the boy, trembling lest he should have brought his master's wrath down burning upon his head Hah!" —  The King's Esquires The Jewel of France
 

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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English esquier, from Old French escuier, from Late Latin scūtārius, shield bearer, from Latin scūtum, shield; see skei- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Old French esquier, escuier, escuyer, an esquire, shield-bearer, also a shield-maker, modern F. ecuyer = Provencal escudier, escuder, escuier = Spanish escudero = Portuguese escudeiro = Italian scudiere, scudiero, from Middle Latin scutarius, a squire, a shield-bearer, shield-maker, from Latin scutum, a shield: see scutum, scute, scutage, escutcheon, scutcheon, etc. Hence, by apheresis (though actually older in English), squire, q. v.
  2. from esquire, n.
  3. from Old French esquiere, esquierre, esquarre, a square: see square and squire.
 

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/ɛsˈkwaɪr/
by American Heritage

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