square

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A plane figure having four equal sides.
2. n. Something having an equal-sided rectangular form: a square of cloth.
3. n. A T-shaped or L-shaped instrument for drawing or testing right angles.
4. n. Mathematics The product obtained when a number or quantity is multiplied by itself: 49 is the square of 7.
5. n. Games Any of the quadrilateral spaces on a board, as in chess.
6. n. An open, usually four-sided area at the intersection of two or more streets, often planted with grass and trees for use as a park.
7. n. A rectangular space enclosed by streets and occupied by buildings; a block.
8. n. Slang A person who is regarded as dull, rigidly conventional, and out of touch with current trends.
9. n. Slang A square meal. Often used in the plural: three squares a day.
10. adj. Having four equal sides and four right angles.
11. adj. Forming a right angle.
12. adj. Expressed in units measuring area: square feet.
13. adj. Having a specified length in each of two equal dimensions: a room that is 12 feet square.
14. adj. Having a base that is a square: a square pyramid.
15. adj. Nautical Set at right angles to the mast and keel. Used of the yards of a square-rigged ship.
16. adj. Approximately rectangular and equilateral in cross section: a square house.
17. adj. Characterized by blocklike solidity or sturdiness.
18. adj. Honest; direct: a square answer.
19. adj. Just; equitable: a square deal.
20. adj. Having all accounts settled; even.
21. adj. Sports Even; tied.
22. adj. Slang Rigidly conventional; dull.
23. v. To cut to a square or rectangular shape.
24. v. To test for conformity to a desired plane, straight line, or right angle.
25. v. To mark into squares. Often used with off.
26. v. To bring into conformity or agreement: She could not square the request with her principles.
27. v. To bring (oneself) into a better position or relation: He tried to square himself with his parents.
28. v. To set straight or at approximate right angles: square one's cap.
29. v. To bring into balance; settle: square a debt.
30. v. Sports To even the score of: to square a game.
31. v. Mathematics To raise (a number or quantity) to the second power.
32. v. Mathematics To find a square equal in area to (the area of a given figure).
33. v. Informal To bribe or fix: a party in litigation that tried to square the judge.
34. v. Mathematics To be at right angles.
35. v. To agree or conform: a story that doesn't square with the facts.
36. adv. Mathematics At right angles.
37. adv. In a square shape.
38. adv. In a solid manner; firmly.
39. adv. Directly; straight: ran square into each other.
40. adv. In an honest, straightforward manner.
41. square away Nautical To square the yards of a sailing vessel.
42. square away To put away or in order.
43. square off To assume a fighting stance; prepare to fight.
44. square up To settle a bill or debt.
45. idiom. on the square Mathematics At right angles.
46. idiom. on the square Honestly and openly: has always dealt on the square.
47. idiom. out of square Mathematics Not at exact right angles.
48. idiom. out of square Not in agreement.
49. idiom. square peg in a round hole Informal A misfit.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In geometry, a four-sided plane rectilineal figure, having all its sides equal, and all its angles right angles.
2. n. A figure or object which nearly approaches this shape; a square piece or part, or a square surface: as, a square of glass.
3. n. Specifically— In printing, a certain number of lines forming a part of a column nearly square: used chiefly in reckoning the prices of newspaper advertisements.
4. n. A square piece of linen, cloth, or silk, usually decorated with embroidery, fringe, or lace: as, a table-square.
5. n. A quadrilateral area, rectangular or nearly so, with buildings, or sites for buildings, on every side; also, an open space formed by the intersection of streets; hence, such an area planted with trees, shrubs, or grass, and open to the public for recreation or diversion; a public park among buildings; a common; a green: as, Union Square in New York; Lafayette Square in Washington; Trafalgar Square in London.
6. n. An area bounded by four streets; a block: as, the house is four or five squares further up-town.
7. n. An instrument used by artificers, draftsmen, and others for trying or describing right angles. It consists of two rules or branches fastened perpendicularly at one end of their extremities so as to form a right angle. Sometimes one of the branches is pivoted, so as to admit of measuring other than right angles. When one rule is joined to the other in the middle in the form of a T, it is called a T-square.
8. n. Hence A true measure, standard, or pattern.
9. n. In arithmetic and algebra, the number or quantity derived from another (of which it is said to be the square) by multiplying that other by itself: thus, 64 is the square of 8, for 8 × 8 = 64; xor x × x is the square of x.
10. n. Rule; regularity; exact proportion; hence, integrity of conduct; honest dealing. See phrases on the square , out of square, etc.
11. n. A body of troops drawn up in quadrilateral form. The formation used in the sixteenth century and afterward was a nearly solid body of pikemen, to which the harquebusiers, crossbowmen, etc., formed an accessory, as by being posted on the flanks, etc. In Shakspere's time troops drawn up in battle array were primarily in squares. At the present time the square is a hollow formation, composed of four fronts, each from two to five ranks deep, having the officers, colors, etc., in the center. This formation is used to repel cavalry, or to resist any superior force which outflanks or surrounds the body of troops. See hollow square, below.
12. n. A name given to various squared projections or shanks to which other parts of machines may be fitted.
13. n. Level; equality: generally with the. See on the square , below.
14. n. In astrology, quartile; the position of planets distant 90 degrees from each other. See aspect, 7.
15. n. Opposition; enmity; quarrel, See square, intransitive verb, 2.
16. n. A part of a woman's dress The yoke of a chemise or gown: so called because often cut square or angular.
17. n. A square opening in the upper part of the front of a bodice, or other garment covering the throat and neck. It is usually filled in with another material, except for evening dress.
18. n. A puzzle or device consisting of a series of words so selected that when arranged in a square they may be read alike across and downward. Also called word-square.
19. n. In bookbinding, the parts of the cover of a bound book that project beyond the edge of the leaves.
20. n. The square end of the arbor designed to receive the winding-key of a watch, or the similar part by which the hands of the watch are set.
21. n. In flooring, roofing, and other branches of mechanical art, an area 10 feet square; 100 square feet.
22. n. In heraldry, a bearing representing a carpenters' square. (See def. 5.) It is represented with or without the scale.
23. n. In organ-building, a thin piece of wood, in or nearly in the shape of a right-angled triangle, pivoted at the right or largest angle and connected with trackers at the other angles. It serves to change the direction of the tracker-action from vertical to horizontal, or vice versa.
24. n. On an equality; on equal terms.
25. n. Honest; just; fairly; honestly.
26. n. Out of order; out of the way; irregular; incorrect or incorrectly.
27. Having four equal sides and four right angles; quadrate; rectangular and equilateral; as, a square room; a square figure.
28. Forming a right angle; having some part rectangular: as, a table with square corners.
29. Cut off at right angles, as any body or figure with parallel sides: as, a square apse or transept; a square (square-headed) window.
30. Having a shape broad as compared with the height, with rectilinear and angular rather than curved outlines: as, a man of square frame.
31. Accurately adjusted as by a square; true; just; fitting; proper.
32. Hence Equitable; just; fair; unimpeachable.
33. Even; leaving no balance: as, to make the accounts square; to be square with the world.
34. Absolute; positive; unequivocal: as, a square refusal; a square contradiction; a square issue.
35. Leaving nothing; thorough-going; hearty.
36. Hence Solid; substantial; satisfying.
37. Nautical, noting a vessel's yards when they are horizontal and athwartships, or at right angles to the keel.
38. A man who is fair-dealing, straightforward, and trustworthy.
39. To make square; form with four equal sides and four right angles: as, to square a block; specifically (military), to form into a square.
40. To shape by reducing accurately to right angles and straight lines.
41. To reduce to any given measure or standard; mold; adjust; regulate; accommodate; fit.
42. In astrology, to hold a quartile position in relation to.
43. To balance; counterbalance; make even, so as to leave no difference or balance; settle: as, to square accounts.
44. To make angular; bring to an angular position.
45. In mathematics, to multiply (a number or quantity) by itself.
46. To form into a polygon: a loose use of the word.
47. To make “square” or “all right”; “fix”—that is, to make a corrupt bargain with; bribe; suborn: as, to square a subordinate before attempting a fraud.
48. To find the equivalent of in square measure; also, to describe a square equivalent to.
49. To accord; agree; fit: as, his opinions do not square with mine.
50. To quarrel; wrangle; take opposing sides.
51. To take the attitude of a boxer; prepare to spar: usually with a qualifying adverb: as, to square up; to square off.
52. To strut; swagger.
53. Squarely; at right angles; without deviation or deflection: as, to hit a person square on the head.
54. n. A dialectal form of squire.
55. n. A strong iron frame to which the carriages of a spinning-mule are fastened and coupled, and in which is carried some of the mechanism for giving motion to the spindles and for building the cops.
56. n. The three to five (often four) leaf-like heart-shaped bracts surrounding the flower of the cotton plant, taken collectively. They are fringed or cut in different degrees in different species, of which they thus become distinctive.
57. In golf, said of a game when both sides are all oven, neither being ahead.
58. Analogous to the side of a square, as in the phrase square root.
59. See degree.
60. To mark with lines forming squares, as paper for mathematical use; mark off in squares. See coördinate paper.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any simple object with four nearly straight and nearly equal sides meeting at nearly right angles.
2. n. An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.
3. n. An open space in a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.
4. n. A cell in a grid.
5. n. geometry A polygon with four sides of equal length and four angles of 90 degrees; a regular quadrilateral whose angles are all 90 degrees.
6. n. mathematics The second power of a number, value, term or expression.
7. n. military A body of troops drawn up in a square formation.
8. n. slang A socially conventional person; typically associated with the 1950s
9. n. UK The symbol # on a telephone; hash.
10. n. cricket The central area of a cricket field, containing several pitches laid out next to one another - only one being used at a time.
11. n. real estate jargon A unit of measurement of area, equal to a 10 foot by 10 foot square, ie. 100 square feet or roughly 9.3 square metres. Used in real estate for the size of a house or its rooms, though progressively being replaced by square metres in metric countries such as Australia.
12. n. roofing A unit used in measuring roof area equivalent to 100 square feet (9.29 m2) of roof area.
13. n. North America A dessert cut into rectangular pieces, or a piece of such a dessert.
14. n. academia A mortarboard
15. n. colloquial, US A square meal.
16. adj. Shaped like a square (the polygon).
17. adj. At right angles to.
18. adj. Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself.
19. adj. Honest; straightforward.
20. adj. Fair.
21. adj. Even; tied
22. adj. slang Socially conventional; boring.
23. adj. cricket in line with the batsman's popping crease.
24. adj. Correctly aligned with respect to something else
25. v. transitive To adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else.
26. v. To resolve.
27. v. To adjust or adapt so as to bring into harmony with something.
28. v. transitive, mathematics Of a value, term, or expression, to multiply by itself; to raise to the second power.
29. v. transitive To draw, with a pair of compasses and a straightedge only, a square with the same area as.
30. v. soccer To make a short low pass sideways across the pitch
31. v. archaic To take opposing sides; to quarrel.
32. v. To accord or agree exactly; to be consistent with; to suit; to fit.
33. v. obsolete To go to opposite sides; to take an attitude of offense or defense, or of defiance; to quarrel.
34. v. To take a boxing attitude; often with up or off.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete The corner, or angle, of a figure.
2. n. A parallelogram having four equal sides and four right angles.
3. n. Hence, anything which is square, or nearly so.
4. n. A square piece or fragment.
5. n. A pane of glass.
6. n. (Print.) A certain number of lines, forming a portion of a column, nearly square; -- used chiefly in reckoning the prices of advertisements in newspapers.
7. n. (Carp.) One hundred superficial feet.
8. n. An area of four sides, generally with houses on each side; sometimes, a solid block of houses; also, an open place or area for public use, as at the meeting or intersection of two or more streets.
9. n. (Mech. & Joinery) An instrument having at least one right angle and two or more straight edges, used to lay out or test square work. It is of several forms, as the T square, the carpenter's square, the try-square., etc.
10. n. obsolete Hence, a pattern or rule.
11. n. (Arith. & Alg.) The product of a number or quantity multiplied by itself.
12. n. obsolete Exact proportion; justness of workmanship and conduct; regularity; rule.
13. n. (Mil.) A body of troops formed in a square, esp. one formed to resist a charge of cavalry; a squadron.
14. n. Fig.: The relation of harmony, or exact agreement; equality; level.
15. n. (Astrol.), obsolete The position of planets distant ninety degrees from each other; a quadrate.
16. n. rare The act of squaring, or quarreling; a quarrel.
17. n. obsolete The front of a woman's dress over the bosom, usually worked or embroidered.
18. adj. (Geom.) Having four equal sides and four right angles.
19. adj. Forming a right angle.
20. adj. Having a shape broad for the height, with rectilineal and angular rather than curving outlines.
21. adj. Exactly suitable or correspondent; true; just.
22. adj. Rendering equal justice; exact; fair; honest.
23. adj. Even; leaving no balance.
24. adj. Leaving nothing; hearty; vigorous.
25. adj. (Naut.) At right angles with the mast or the keel, and parallel to the horizon; -- said of the yards of a square-rigged vessel when they are so braced.
26. v. To form with four equal sides and four right angles.
27. v. To form with right angles and straight lines, or flat surfaces.
28. v. To compare with, or reduce to, any given measure or standard.
29. v. To adjust; to regulate; to mold; to shape; to fit.
30. v. To make even, so as to leave no remainder or difference; to balance.
31. v. (Math.) To multiply by itself.
32. v. (Astrol.) To hold a quartile position respecting.
33. v. (Naut.) To place at right angles with the keel.
34. v. To accord or agree exactly; to be consistent with; to conform or agree; to suit; to fit.
35. v. obsolete To go to opposite sides; to take an attitude of offense or defense, or of defiance; to quarrel.
36. v. colloq. To take a boxing attitude; -- often with up, sometimes with off.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. raise to the second power
2. v. turn the oar, while rowing
3. n. something approximating the shape of a square
4. adj. without evasion or compromise
5. adv. in a square shape
6. v. make square
7. n. any artifact having a shape similar to a plane geometric figure with four equal sides and four right angles
8. adj. characterized by honesty and fairness
9. v. pay someone and settle a debt
10. n. the product of two equal terms
11. n. a formal and conservative person with old-fashioned views
12. v. turn the paddle; in canoeing
13. v. cause to match, as of ideas or acts
14. adj. having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle
15. v. position so as to be square
16. adj. leaving no balance
17. n. an open area at the meeting of two or more streets
18. n. a hand tool consisting of two straight arms at right angles; used to construct or test right angles
19. adv. in a straight direct way
20. adv. firmly and solidly