squireen

[ skwahy-reen ]

/ skwaɪˈrin /

noun Chiefly Irish English.

the landowner of a small estate; a squire of a small domain.

Nearby words

squircle, squire, squirearch, squirearchy, squiredom, squireen, squireling, squirm, squirmy, squirrel, squirrel away

Origin of squireen

1800–10; squire + -een diminutive suffix < Irish -ín

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for squireen

He had been christened Edmund, and he was a squireen of the Tipperary village of Knockbrit.
Superwomen|Albert Payson Terhune
The class of squireen is nearly extinct: 'Joy be with them.'
English As We Speak It in Ireland|P. W. Joyce
Sometimes you can hardly distinguish a squireen from a half-sir or from a shoneen.
English As We Speak It in Ireland|P. W. Joyce
Squireen′, a gentleman farmer, one almost a squire; Squire′hood, the state or rank of a squire—also Squire′ship.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various

She looks higher, and she has a right to look higher than to be the wife of an Irish squireen.'
Lord Kilgobbin|Charles Lever

British Dictionary definitions for squireen

squireen

squireling (ˈskwaɪəlɪŋ)

/ (skwaɪˈriːn) /

noun

rare a petty squire

Word Origin for squireen

C19: from squire + -een, Anglo-Irish diminutive suffix, from Irish Gaelic -ín

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012