rare. [f. ESQUIRE sb.1] trans. a. To raise to the rank of esquire. b. To address as ‘Esquire.’ c. To attend (a lady) as a ‘squire.’ Hence Esquired ppl. a.
a. 1652. Brome, City Wit, IV. i. (1653), E j. By’r Lady a match for my Esquir’d son and heire.
1786. Miss Burney, Diary (1843), III. 240. He proposed that the Colonel and himself should esquire me. Ibid. (1796), VI. 60. M. d’Arblay again ventured to esquire me to the rails round the lodge.
1824. Byron, Juan, XVI. lxix. All country gentlemen, esquired or knighted, May drop in without cards.
1887. Scott. Leader, 12 May, 6. The Rev. Mr. Cameron, of Farnell … asked why one elder was ‘Esquired’ and another not.
