esquire

Etymology 1
From, from , , properly, a shield-bearer (compare modern French ), from , from ; probably akin to English. The term is the result of apheresis. Compare,.

Noun

 * 1)  A lawyer.
 * 2) A male member of the gentry ranking below a knight.
 * 3) * 1875 Herbert Broom and Edward Hadley, notes by William Wait, Commentaries on the laws of England, I-317:
 * Esquires and gentlemen are confounded together by Sir Edward Coke, who observes that every esquire is a gentleman, and a gentleman is defined to be one qui arma gerit, who bears coat-armour, the grant of which was thought to add gentility to a man's family. It is indeed a matter somewhat unsettled what constitutes the distinction, or who is a real esquire; for no estate, however large, per se confers this rank upon its owner.
 * 1) A gentleman who attends or escorts a lady in public.
 * 2)  A squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight
 * 3)  A shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants.
 * 1)  A squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight
 * 2)  A shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants.

Usage notes

 * In England this title is given to the eldest sons of knights, and the elder sons of the younger sons of peers and their eldest sons in succession, officers of the king's courts and of the household, barristers, justices of the peace while in commission, sheriffs, gentlemen who have held commissions in the army and navy, etc.: but opinions with regard to the correct usage vary. There are also esquires of knights of the Bath, each knight appointing three at his installation. The title now is usually conceded to all professional and literary men. In the United States the title is regarded as belonging especially to lawyers.
 * In legal and other formal documents Esquire is usually written in full after the names of those considered entitled to the designation; in common usage it is abbreviated Esq. or Esqr., and appended to any man's name as a mere mark of respect, as in the addresses of letters (though this practice is becoming less prevalent than formerly). In the general sense, and as a title either alone or prefixed to a name, the form Squire has always been the more common in familiar use. - Century, 1914
 * See also the Wikipedia article on "Esquire"

Derived terms

 * : See bedel

Translations

 * Dutch: ,
 * Galician: escudeiro
 * Greek:
 * Ancient Greek: ὀπάων


 * Bulgarian: рицарски кандидат
 * French:
 * Galician: escudeiro
 * Macedonian: штито́носец, оруже́носец
 * Russian: ,
 * Spanish:


 * Bulgarian: оръжено́сец
 * French:
 * German: Schildknappe,
 * Macedonian: штито́носец
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:


 * Macedonian: кавале́р
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:


 * French:

Verb

 * 1)  To attend, wait on, escort.

Etymology 2
,, (whence modern 🇨🇬), 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.

Noun

 * 1)  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).
 * 2) * 1597, Gerard Legh, Armorie, page 154, quoted in the NED:
 * Thre pallets between ij Esquires bast dexter and sinister of the second.

Noun

 * 1) (an untitled) nobleman; blasonado.
 * 2) An escudero, originally carrying the armour of a knight; a man of the gentry ranking below a knight.
 * 1) An escudero, originally carrying the armour of a knight; a man of the gentry ranking below a knight.