Her. Also 6 equire; and see SQUIRE 2. [app. a OF. esquire (mod.F. équerre) square (now only mason’s square, but formerly also the geometrical figure).
Perhaps based esquire may represent OF. bas d’esquire, bottom of a square. Guillim and R. Holme use squire both in the sense explained below and for a figure of a mason’s square; the latter is the sense of équerre in Fr. heraldry.]
a. Esquire based: used by Leigh for the lower of the halves into which a canton is divided diagonally. b. Apparently by misunderstanding of this use, esquire is explained by later writers as a synonym of GYRON, or as a bearing somewhat resembling the gyron, but ending elsewhere than in the center of the shield.
1562. Leigh, Armorie, 154. Thre pallets between ij Equires [ed. 1597 90 Esquires] bast dexter and sinister of the second.
[1610. Guillim, Heraldry, II. vi. 61. A Canton parted trauerswaies, whether it be from the Dexter corner, or from the Sinister, doth make two Base Squires.]
1889. Elvin, Dict. Her., Esquire,… similar to the Gyron it may extend across the shield; termed also a Base Esquire.
