Webster's English Dictionary

Enter the word to look up:

esquire

es.quire \'es-.kwi-(*)r, is-'\ n [ME, fr. MF esquier squire, fr. LL 
   scutarius, fr. L scutum sh]ield; akin to OHG sceida sheath 1: a member of 
   the English gentry ranking immediately below a knight  2: a candidate for 
   knighthood serving as shield bearer and attendant to the  knight 3: - used 
   as a title of courtesy usu. placed in its abbreviated form afte r the 
   surname archaic  4: a landed proprietor