|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
squire
squire is a term which has come down in the world. Originally it applied to a young man attendant on a knight, bearing his shield, and, by the late 14th cent., entitled to his own coat of arms. Chaucer's Squire, a dapper young man, served his father. By Tudor times, the terminology was changing. William Harrison (1577) referred to ‘esquire, which we commonly call squire’. In the 17th cent. it developed into a general term for the lord of the manor, well below the level of nobility, but far above yeomen. Addison offered an idealized version in the Spectator (1711/12) in the form of Sir Roger de Coverley, worshipped by his servants and tenants: in the Freeholder (1715–16) he drew the antithesis in Squire Foxhunter, an ignorant boor, cursing the Hanoverians and complaining that there had been no good weather since the days of Charles II. Fielding's Squire Western in Tom Jones (1749) offered support for Macaulay's much-criticized portrait of the squirearchy as drunken clowns. The term ‘esquire’, like that of ‘gentleman’, was gradually applied to any man as a suffix, and its final degradation was as a 20th-cent. term of pert familiarity. See gentry.
J. A. Cannon |
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "squire." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "squire." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-squire.html JOHN CANNON. "squire." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-squire.html |
|
squire
squire / ˈskwīr/ • n. 1. a man of high social standing who owns and lives on an estate in a rural area, esp. the chief landowner in such an area: the squire of Radbourne Hall | [as title] Squire Hughes. ∎ Brit., inf. used by a man as a friendly or humorous form of address to another man. ∎ archaic a title given to a magistrate, lawyer, or judge in some rural districts. 2. hist. a young nobleman acting as an attendant to a knight before becoming a knight himself. • v. [tr.] (of a man) accompany or escort (a woman): she was squired around Rome by a reporter. ∎ dated (of a man) have a romantic relationship with (a woman). DERIVATIVES: squire·dom / -dəm/ n. squire·ship / -ˌship/ n. |
|
|
Cite this article
"squire." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "squire." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-squire.html "squire." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-squire.html |
|
squire
squire is a term which has come down in the world. Originally it applied to a young man attendant on a knight, bearing his shield, and, by the late 14th cent., entitled to his own coat of arms. By Tudor times, the terminology was changing. William Harrison (1577) referred to ‘esquire, which we commonly call squire’. In the 17th cent. it developed into a general term for the lord of the manor, well below the level of nobility, but far above yeomen. The term ‘esquire’, like that of ‘gentleman’, was gradually applied to any man as a suffix, and its final degradation was as a 20th‐cent. term of pert familiarity. See gentry.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "squire." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "squire." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-squire.html JOHN CANNON. "squire." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-squire.html |
|
squire
squire (or esquire) Originally an apprentice KNIGHT in medieval Europe. Usually young men, they served as the personal attendants of fully fledged knights. The title was then one of function rather than birth: it derives from the Latin “scutarius”, referring to the shield-bearing role of the squire. In later medieval England the term came to be applied to all gentlemen entitled to bear arms. By the 17th century, “squire” had become synonymous with a district's leading landowner, perhaps even the lord of the manor. The considerable local influence, both political and ecclesiastical, of the “squirearchy” has since diminished.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"squire." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "squire." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-squire.html "squire." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-squire.html |
|
squire
squire in feudal times, a young nobleman acting as an attendant to a knight before becoming a knight himself; from the late 16th century, a young man attending or escorting a lady, a gallant or lover.
From the 17th century, squire came to denote a man of high social standing who owns and lives on an estate in a rural area, especially the chief landowner in such an area. The word is recorded from Middle English, and is originally a shortening of Old French esquier ‘esquire’. |
|
|
Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "squire." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "squire." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-squire.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "squire." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-squire.html |
|
squire
squire young man in attendance on a knight XIII; one who attends on a lady XVI; country gentleman XVII. Aphetic — OF. esquier ESQUIRE.
Hence squirearchy class of squires. XVIII; after hierarchy. squireen petty squire XIX. |
|
|
Cite this article
T. F. HOAD. "squire." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "squire." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-squire.html T. F. HOAD. "squire." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-squire.html |
|
squire
squire
•acquire, admire, afire, applier, aspire, attire, ayah, backfire, barbwire, bemire, briar, buyer, byre, choir, conspire, crier, cryer, defier, denier, desire, dire, drier, dryer, dyer, enquire, entire, esquire, expire, fire, flyer, friar, fryer, Gaia, gyre, hellfire, hire, hiya, ire, Isaiah, jambalaya, Jeremiah, Josiah, Kintyre, latria, liar, lyre, Maia, Maya, Mayer, messiah, mire, misfire, Nehemiah, Obadiah, papaya, pariah, peripeteia, perspire, playa, Praia, prior, pyre, quire, replier, scryer, shire, shyer, sire, skyer, Sophia, spire, squire, supplier, Surabaya, suspire, tier, tire, transpire, trier, tumble-dryer, tyre, Uriah, via, wire, Zechariah, Zedekiah, Zephaniah
•homebuyer
|
|
|
Cite this article
"squire." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "squire." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-squire.html "squire." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-squire.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
