esquire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in the United States, a lawyer, especially when Esquire or Esq. is placed after the person's name

   The letter was signed Jordan Lee, Esquire, counsel for the claimant.

2. 2
   noun

   historical British: a male member of the gentry ranking below a knight

   The poll tax assessed each esquire according to his social rank rather than his income.

3. 3
   noun

   in the Middle Ages, a young attendant or shield-bearer serving a knight and often training for knighthood

   The esquire cared for the knight's horse and armor before the tournament.

Simplified etymology

Esquire came into late Middle English from an Old French word meaning “shield bearer,” ultimately from Latin scutum, “shield.” It originally denoted a young man of gentle birth who attended a knight, then a man of the higher English gentry below a knight, and finally became a polite title added to a man’s name.

From Middle English esquier, through Old French escuier from Late Latin scutarius, 'shield-bearer,' based on Latin scutum, 'shield.' Squire is an apheretic form of the same word. The title broadened from a knight's attendant to a rank of gentleman and, in the United States, a lawyer's postnominal title.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary