squire
Americannoun
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squires
plural
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(in England) a country gentleman, especially the chief landed proprietor in a district.
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(in the Middle Ages) a young man of noble birth who as an aspirant to knighthood served a knight.
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a personal attendant, as of a person of rank.
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a man who accompanies or escorts a woman.
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a title applied to a justice of the peace, local judge, or other local dignitary of a rural district or small town.
verb (used with object)
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squires,
present (3rd person singular)
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squired,
past participle, past
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squiring
present participle
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to attend as, or in the manner of, a squire.
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to escort (a woman), as to a dance or social gathering.
noun
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a country gentleman in England, esp the main landowner in a rural community
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feudal history a young man of noble birth, who attended upon a knight
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rare a man who courts or escorts a woman
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informal a term of address used by one man to another, esp, unless ironic, to a member of a higher social class
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an immature snapper See snapper
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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squiresimple
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squiressimple
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have squiredperfect
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has squiredperfect
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am squiringprogressive
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are squiringprogressive
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is squiringprogressive
-
have been squiringperfect progressive
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has been squiringperfect progressive
Past
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squiredsimple
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had squiredperfect
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was squiringprogressive
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were squiringprogressive
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had been squiringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of squire
1250–1300; Middle English squier; aphetic variant of esquire
Explanation
Squire is a British term for a country landowner or gentleman. You can use squire to describe a refined and powerful man, or as a verb meaning to escort: when the queen visited, the police chief squired her around town. You'll encounter squires in 19th-century English novels, and you'll need to understand who they are if you're going to get the subtle class distinctions that often drive the plots of these novels. During feudal times squires were young men who assisted knights. For their loyalty, they were given land, making them and their descendants rich and powerful. If you had land, you could live off the rent your tenant farmers paid, and you’d be free to be a gentleman.
Vocabulary lists containing squire
Medieval Europe - Introductory
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 11
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The Odyssey
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Near the start, when Dunk reluctantly accepts Egg as his squire, he sets the terms of their relationship in a dark field outside the town where the tournament that births their legend takes place.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2026
Martin’s novella series “Tales of Dunk and Egg,” stars Peter Claffey as a wandering knight and Dexter Sol Ansell as his squire, who is secretly a Targaryen prince.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 18, 2026
One such charity case was young Dunk, whom the older knight saved from a thief’s knife before taking on the boy as his squire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026
It follows the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire, Egg.
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025
In all ways possible he maintained the life of an eighteenth-century squire, even to providing special walking sticks for his guests as they accompanied him around his grounds.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
The unit will include knights, squires, stable hands and show cast members, including queens, Lord Cedric the lord chancellor, the lord marshal and trumpet players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2022
McCurdie said new hires, referred to as squires, are making near minimum wage.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 31, 2022
The sort of — low gentry squires, vicar's sons, this sort of thing.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2019
The woman defended her choice, claiming her family is descended from a long line of “both squires and senators.”
From Fox News ● Dec. 9, 2018
The snowmen the squires had built had grown into monstrous giants, ten feet tall and hideously misshapen.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
My 14-year-old son recently sent me a photo of our dog, Sugaree, taken last December as she was squired about town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
Hollywood executives were eager to set him up with starlets, whom Kissinger squired to premieres and showy restaurants, according to Isaacson.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
He came to California in 1926 and squired around silent movie actress Aileen Pringle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2023
The first time we tried to go, Kurant and I punched Edison’s name into a smartphone and allowed ourselves to be squired to the first appropriate-sounding place the ride-hailing app suggested.
From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2021
"I am. I was bom on the Doroish Marches, Your Grace. As a boy I squired for a knight of Lord Swann's household."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
But in that last role, squiring Mariah Carey, Lee Radziwill, Anna Wintour around town, Mr. Talley reached his apex.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2022
Treating this kind of team-wide malaise doesn’t necessarily mean culling the entire team, or even squiring off its oldest players with a testimonial and a watch.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2021
So is squiring musician Grimes to the Met Gala.
From The Verge ● May 8, 2021
During her second year, Ayad ended up squiring around more guests than she had expected.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 4, 2016
They were O.K., but just a little cautious, and this business of squiring Ansaldo's nurse would not set too well with them unless Ansaldo was not Gamburdo's man at all.
From The Five Arrows by Allan Chase
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
