Also 4–7 squar, 5 sware, squyer, 6 squear, Sc. squair, squayr; 4–6 sware (4 suare, 6 suar). [ad. OF. esquarré (escarré), pa. pple. of esquarrer SQUARE v., assimilated to this and to SQUARE sb.]
I. 1. Having a rectilinear and rectangular form of equal length and breadth; contained by four equal sides at right angles to each other; quadrate.
In early use freq. FOUR-SQUARE a. Cf. also THREE-, SIX-, EIGHT-SQUARE.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 837. Lesande þe boke with leuez sware. Ibid., B. 1386. Þe place … Was longe & ful large & euer ilych sware.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., I. § 13. Thanne hastow a brod Rewle, þat hath on either ende a Square plate perced with a certein holes.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 4158. Aboute it was founded square, An hundred fademe on every side; It was alle liche longe and wide.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., II. 107. A tabul square an aker lond to holde, Feet scoris nyne in lengthe, as fele in wide.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., xxxv. 179. On the thirde head, in a banner square, All of reade was wrytten Discomfort.
1557. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Mary (1914), 236. A square pece of waynscott.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xi. (Arb.), 113. It will grow into the figure Trapezion, which is some portion longer then square.
1611. Bible, 1 Kings vii. 5. And all the doores and postes were square, with the windowes.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 1048. To behold … th’ Empyreal Heav’n, extended wide In circuit, undetermind square or round.
1715. trans. Gregory’s Astron. (1726), I. 442. Because this given Rectangle … wants of a square Figure.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 21. A massy slab, in fashion square or round.
1835. J. Duncan, Beetles (Nat. Lib.), 128. The elytra … approach more to a square shape than is usual among the carabideous tribes.
1859. Handbk. Turning, 127. Square patterns require great care in working them.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 489. An apparatus for trimming paper and prints … and enabling the user to be sure that they will be true and square.
transf. 1648. Hexham, II. Teerlingh-wijse, after a Square manner.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. P 8. The ordinary methods of hand or square centering now in general use.
1892. Daily News, 28 July, 6/7. The artillery moved up by square movements instead of in line.
b. Square inch, foot, yard, etc., a rectangular space measuring an inch, foot, etc., either way.
In quot. 1667 ‘square Inches’ are = ‘cubic inches’ (cf. 3 b), and in quot. 1715 the sense is ‘of 36 square inches.’
1625. N. Carpenter, Geogr. Del., I. viii. (1635), 200. The product will shew the number of square miles in the face of the Terrestriall Globe.
1667. Primatt, City & C. Builder, 36. If you would let it by the square Foot,… it is worth twelve pence a Foot per ann. Ibid., 165. A Foot solid measure hath seventeen hundred twenty eight square Inches.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 59. To do the Work per Yard square.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 161. There are but few Cavities in this Construction, and those but 36 Inches square.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), I. 302. A weight of fifteen pounds upon every square inch.
1837. J. T. Smith, trans. Vicat’s Mortars, 92. An absolute resistance of 5k.43 per centimetre square.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 437. The result, in square chains and links, is converted into acres by a simple division by ten.
1868. G. Duff, Pol. Surv., 48. His territories in Asia cover 668,580 English square miles.
c. Square measure, a unit of measurement consisting of a square space; a system of measures based on such units.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Measure, English Square or Superficial Measures are raised from the Yard of 36 Inches, multiplied into itself.
1854. Orr’s Circle Sci., Math., 19. Measures of Surface, or Square Measure.
2. Square number, the product of a number multiplied by itself.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., C iij b. Square nombers are those, whiche maie be diuided by some one number, and haue the same number for the quotiente.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, VII. def. 19. 187. It is called a square number, because … it representeth the figure of a square in Geometry.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 41. Plato iudged the yeare eightie one, which is compounded of nine times nine, to be the Climactericall yeare,… which hee calleth the square number.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 215. Though it containeth both numbers … 7. and 9. yet neither of them square or quadrate.
1674. Jeake, Arith. (1696), 193. Which Square Number set thereunder, and substract therefrom.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 181, ¶ 5. I … considered even the square and cubick numbers through the lottery.
1846. De Morgan, Arith., vii. § 161, note. By square number I mean a number which has a square root. Thus 25 is a square number, but 26 is not.
b. Square root, the number or quantity constituting such a base of a given number or quantity as to produce this when multiplied by itself.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., G iv. The roote of a square nombere, is called a Square roote.
1571. Digges, Pantom., I. xxxiii. K ij b. The roote square of the remaynder ye must compare wyth the distaunce of the fyrste shyppe.
1633. Massinger, Guardian, I. i. They would have me … let him know No more than how to cipher well, or do His tricks by the square root.
1674. Jeake, Arith. (1696), 193. The Square Root of a Number is extracted commonly thus.
1715. trans. Gregory’s Astron. (1726), I. 53. The Celerities of the Bodies are reciprocally as the Square Roots of the Radii.
1812–6. Playfair, Nat. Phil. (1819), I. 195. The area of the orifice multiplied into the square-root of the depth.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 394/1. The rule for the extraction of the square root is a tentative inverse process very much resembling division.
c. Square party, a party of four persons.
In the first quot. after F. partie carrée, a party of two men and two women.
1857. Wolff, Pict. Spanish Life, vi. 176. Remaining a ‘square party,’… we all four embarked in the little boat.
1893. G. Allen, Scallywag, I. vi. 79. The square party of pedestrians turned away along the sea-front.
3. Having an equilateral rectangular section.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1664. A wessel … sal be wroght o suare tre.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 218. Many a barre Of iren greet and squar as eny sparre.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 5415. And arwes eke … With which, wher they be square or rounde, He kan hurte.
1459. Paston Lett., I. 490. Item, ij. grete square spittys.
1508. Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 111. Wyth bow in hand … And dredefull arowis grundyn scharp and square.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 9. To plow a square forowe, the bredthe and the depenes all one.
1677. [see square-bore in 14].
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Stairs, Square winding Stairs are such as wind round a square Newel, either Solid or open.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 531. Stems square, hairy.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, viii. 188. One being a square rod, another a bent cylindrical one.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 824. Square files, are used for small apertures, and those works to which the ordinary flat files are from their greater size less applicable.
1900. Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.), Jan. 11. A ‘square tube’ or long narrow box … with an inside measurement of one inch square.
fig. 1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, xxv. The square men in the round holes are pushed into them by their wives.
c. 1870. Tennyson, in Athenæum, 5 Nov. (1892), 631/1. I should but be … the square man in the round hole.
b. Having a form more or less approximating to a cube; rectangular and of three dimensions.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 38. Cut [the mallard] in peses, as I þe kenne; Square as dises þou shalt hit make.
1600. Sir John Oldcastle, IV. i. Giue vs square dice, weele keepe this courte of guard For al good fellowes.
1621. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), I. 291. The squar basketts are not made all of one biggnesse.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 11. These occidental Indian square-heads.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 38/1. Whether square Stone, or uneven Scantlings.
1760. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. 42. Steelmarle, which is of it self apt to break into square cubical bits.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xi. 269. A large square chest or box, three feet and a half long, two feet deep, and two and a half high.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Square Tank Coil, a condensing coil of rectangular shape.
4. Of limbs, the body, etc.: Approximating to a square section or outline; stoutly and strongly built; solid, sturdy.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 581. Newys that stalwart war & squar, That wont to spayn gret speris war.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3967. A hard brest hade þe buerne, & his back sware.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 200. Here greet shulderys, square and brood.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, V. vii. 107. His lymmis squair, Baith big bonis and brawnis, [he] maid all bair.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 3 b. To him he ioyned one John Dighton,… a bygge, broade, square, & strong knaue.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 44. Quhen Æneas Syluius walde expreme the coniunctioun of his memberis, with the Maiestie of his persoune, he calis him squair.
1625. Hart, Anat. Ur., II. viii. 103. Yet was he of a reasonable square and corpulent body.
1709. London Gaz., No. 4536/4. He is a Square well-set Man. Ibid. (1720), No. 5898/9. A … well built, and square Mare.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. x. 76. A square, thick, hard-working man.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 239. What a glorious old hen she was! Large, wide, short-legged, square and compact.
5. Of (a stated) length on each of the four sides forming a square.
Regularly placed after the words giving the measurement. The usage in quot. 1448 is obsolete.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), v. 41. That Tour conteyned gret Contree in circuyt: For the Tour allone conteyned 10 Myle sqware.
1448. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 8. The Someres … shall be one side xij inch squar and on the other part xiiij inch squar; and all the Gistes shall be on the one part squar vi inches and on the other part viij inches.
1449. in Cal. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1830), II. Pref. 55. Þe gurdyng someres of þe same flore shull be xj inchis square.
a. 1500. Droichis Part of Play, 44, in Dunbar’s Poems (S.T.S.), 315. His teith wes ten myle squair.
1594. R. Ashley, trans. Loys le Roy, 41 b. In the midst there was an other place made of Carpenters worke,… and was large a hundred foote square, which is fower hundred foote round.
1619. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), I. 163. Those peeces which content 30 ells square fall out but 20 covados square.
1659. Leak, Water-works, 18. A straight Axeltree of wood, a foot square, and 60-foot high.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Diamond, A Hole is made in a Wall, a foot-square.
1790. W. Wrighte, Grotesque Archit., 4. An hermit’s cell … eight feet square in the inside.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 427. This block, which may be six inches square, need not rise more than an inch above the surface.
1854. Poultry Chron., II. 142. The whole were reared in a back-yard not ten feet square.
1900. [see 3].
6. † a. Of an angle: Right. Obs.
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. Def., A blunt or brode corner, is greater then is a square angle, and his lines do parte more in sonder then in a right angle.
b. At right angles; rectangular in position or direction; perpendicular (to something).
1571. Digges, Pantom., I. i. C. Thus drawe your plumbe or squire line FCG. Ibid., xxii. G iij. Drawe foure lines perpendiculare or squire the one to the other.
1656. H. Phillips, Purch. Patt. (1676), B viii b. In the square meeting of the Table.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 86. Whose sides are all square to one another. Ibid. Draw HP square or perpendicular to GHA.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Square, a term peculiarly appropriated to the yards and their sails, implying that they hang at right angles with the mast or keel.
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 11. In the main roads underground … square turns are not necessary.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xv. (1842), 379. A long low vessel,… with immensely square yards.
1833. Regul. & Instr. Cavalry, I. 49. Bodies to be quite square to the front.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., ii. 40. The Bakwains have a curious inability to make or put things square.
1868. Airy, Pop. Astron., i. 15, note. When the expression perpendicular to the surface of the glass is used, it means what a workman would probably call square to the surface of the glass.
† c. fig. Diverging or deviating from something.
1549. L. Coxe, Erasm. Par. Titus, 28. Teaching shamefull thinges and far square from the veritie of the gospell.
7. Even, straight, level. Also const. with.
1814. D. H. O’Brien, Captiv. & Escape, 7. On our arrival on board, the water was nearly square with the combings of the lower deck.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 201. Brass surfaces are … rubbed square with blue stone.
b. fig. On equal terms; with all accounts settled. Freq. const. with.
1859. Slang Dict., 100. ‘To be square with a man,’ to be revenged.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, I. xxxvii. 326. He’s only going to give me my little bit of money … and then he and I will be all square.
1883. J. Purves, in Contemp. Rev., Sept., 358. Acred squires, who lay their heads at night on their pillows with self-approval that they are square with the world.
1892. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Nevermore, III. 68. I’ve got square with you so far, and … I’ll be more than even with you yet.
c. Golfing. Having equal scores.
1887. in Jamieson’s Sc. Dict., Suppl. 227/1.
1898. Daily News, 22 Oct., 9/4. They were all square at the 18th, and no fewer than five extra holes had to be played before the Huddersfield man could claim a victory.
II. 8. Of actions: Just or equitable; fair, honest, honorable, straightforward: a. In the phrases square play or dealing, the square thing.
(a) 1591. Greene, Conny Catch. (1859), 7. For feare of trouble I was fain to try my good hap at square play.
1604. Terilo, Fr. Bacon’s Proph., 214, in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 276. And faire square plaie with yea and naie, Who lost the game would quickly paie.
1677. Wycherley, Pl. Dealer, I. i. Why, don’t you know … that telling truth is a quality as prejudicial to a man that wou’d thrive in the World, as square Play to a Cheat?
1708. Brit. Apollo, Supern. Paper No. 4. 1/2. Venturing my Money in any sort of Traffick, is much the same, as at Square Play.
(b) 1633. Gerard, Descr. Somerset (1900), 115. Theis come as neere unto them as possibly with square dealing they can.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., i. 38. Would there then be kept that square-dealing in such a monstrous den of Thieves?
1884. R. Wheatley, in Harper’s Mag., June, 56/2. The more prominent American merchants, whose reputation for integrity and square dealing is unimpeached and unassailable.
(c) c. 1860. Mrs. Spofford, in Casquet of Literature, IV. 25/1. He had come to question … whether it was just the square thing to … shut her up all by herself.
1890. A. A. Hayes, in Century Mag., Feb., 527/1. You know I ’ve tried to do the square thing by you.
b. In general use. (Cf. FAIR AND SQUARE a.)
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. ii. 190. She’s a most triumphant Lady, if report be square to her. Ibid. (1607), Timon, V. iv. 36. For those that were, it is not square to take On those that are, Reuenge.
1679. Harby, Key Script., II. 27. Much more must his Antitype … be far from giving or receiving any right Counsel, and from all practice of Square Right.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.
1885. American, IX. 278/2. A desire to do something which, as they think, will be square all around.
1892. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Nevermore, xi. I may have doubted whether everything was quite square about him [a horse]; but I never thought for a moment that he was stolen.
9. Of persons: † a. Not readily moved or shaken in purpose, etc.; solid, steady, reliable. Obs.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xi[i]. (Arb.), 113. [Aristotle] termeth a constant minded man … a square man.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus i. 7. This doctrine sheweth what a square and furnished man he had need be, who must stand vnder such a burden as this is.
1635. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. III. 283. To make sure to keepe my self close and squaire in all to his Maties service.
1710. S. Sewall, Diary, 3 April. I did not think him so square and stable a man.
† b. Solid or steady (at eating or drinking). Obs.
1611. Cotgr., Vn ferial beuveur, a square drinker, a faithfull drunkard; one that will take his liquor soundly.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Bonduca, II. iii. By — square eaters, More meat I say:… how terribly They charge upon their victuals.
c. Honest or straightforward in dealing with others; honorable, upright.
1646. Quarles, Judgem. & Mercy, Wks. (Grosart), I. 93/2. Mistaking a lying or cousening knave for a square or honest man.
1667. Temple, Let. Ld. Arlington, Wks. 1720, II. 49. I found him as plain, as direct, and square in the course of this Business, as any Man could be.
a. 1716. Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 165. When he sees that those Christians with whom he trades, are not … so square and honest in their Dealings.
1811. Lexicon-Balatronicum, Square, honest, not roguish.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., i. 2. I’ve trusted him, since then, with everything I have—money, house, horses,—… and I always found him true and square in everything.
1883. F. M. Crawford, Dr. Claudius, ix. He amuses me, and he is very square on settling days.
10. † a. Precise, prim, solemn. Obs.
c. 1590. Sir T. More (Malone Soc.), 1425. Oh what formalitie, what square obseruance: liues in a little roome.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., II. iii. A serious, solemne, and supercilious race, full of formall and square gravitie. Ibid. (1601), Poetaster, IV. vi. And all their square pretext of grauitie [is] A meere vaine glorie.
† b. Solidly or firmly constituted; free from flaw or defect. Obs.
1628. Strafford, in Browning, Life (1891), 293. We must apply a square courage to our proceedings, not fall away as water spilt upon the ground.
1672. Owen, Disc. Evang. Love, v. Every undue presumption hath one or other lameness accompanying it: it is truth alone which is square and steady.
c. Precise, exact; † certain.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 199. My conduct [= guide] still deceaued me, made it square Another Carauan, O! would come there. Ibid., IX. 415. Fit to gouerne others, and to direct him selfe with the square rules of wisdome and iudgement.
a. 1684. Leighton, Wks. (1868), 675. Framing them to an external and square carriage whereby the world … is much advantaged.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871), II. 65. His ideas being square, solid and tangible, and therefore readily grasped and retained.
1884. J. Parker, Apost. Life, II. 153. This is a square Gospel; it will have all things at right angles.
d. Straight, direct.
1804. M. Cutler, in Life, etc. (1888), II. 162. It was … a square fight between the all-important head man of the party and another who ranks as his second.
1873. Hale, In His Name, vi. 57. [He] could not answer the square question put to him.
1896. Daily News, 11 April, 3/5. It may be … foolish of the Transvaal to refuse the opportunity for a square talk, but it is strictly within its rights.
e. Right; in good order; on a proper footing. To call (it) square, to regard as balanced or settled.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xviii. If she is unhappy for three months, she will be overjoyed for three more when she hears that I am alive, so it will be all square at the end of the six.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xx. I had confident expectations that things would come round and be all square.
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 163. Although he was willing to call it square, in reality he ought to make a claim.
f. Of meals: Full, solid, substantial. Of a drink; Copious; of full measure.
Orig. U.S.; common from about 1880.
1868. All Year Round, 19 Sept., 354/2. Roadside hotel-keepers … calling the miners’ attention to their ‘square meals’: by which is meant full meals.
1876. Daily News, 24 Oct., 1/3. This pot simmers from early morn till noon, when the one ‘square meal’ of the day is eaten.
1884. E. F. Knight, Cruise Falcon, xi. 186. Mr. Wynn … had prepared a good square supper for the travellers.
1899. [see SQUARE sb. 16].
III. ellipt. 11. On or upon the square. a. With a square front; face to face; directly, openly. Now rare.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XIII. 138. But when he fell into the strengths the Grecians did maintain, And that they fought upon the square [Gr. ἀντίοι], he stood as fetter’d then.
1677. Wycherley, Pl. Dealer, IV. i. Prithee bid ’em come up,… captain, for now I can talk with her upon the square.
1691. Dryden, K. Arthur, V. i. How’s this, a sally? Beyond my hopes, to meet them on the square.
1737. Whiston, Josephus, Hist., VI. vii. § 2. Nor were [they] strong enough to fight with the Romans any longer upon the square.
1821. Lamb, Elia, I. Old & New Schoolm. He is awkward, and out of place, in the society of his equals…. He cannot meet you on the square.
b. In a fair, honest or straightforward manner; without artifice, deceit, fraud or trickery.
Very common from c. 1670, freq. with reference to playing or gaming.
(a) 1667–8. Dk. Newcastle & Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-all, I. i. Scarce one woman in an hundred will play with you upon the square.
1680. Cotton, Compl. Gamester (ed. 2), 4. These Rooks can do little harm in the day time at an Ordinary, being forc’d to play upon the Square.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 135. In an Age, wherein it is almost become the Glory of States to circumvent each other, who does not see the Necessity of playing upon the Square?
1748. Smollett, R. Random, ix. He had played on the square with them.
1822. Scott, Nigel, xiii. While Lord Glenvarloch chose to play, men played with him regularly, or, according to the phrase, upon the square.
1844. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, xiii. No man could play with me through Europe, on the square.
(b) 1667. Dryden, Maiden Queen, IV. i. ’Gad, I love upon the square, I can endure no tricks to be used to me.
1689. T. R., View Govt. Europe, 62. They no longer treated on the square with their people.
1701. [De Foe], Villany of Stock-Jobbers (ed. 2), 15. Then we shall Trade upon the square; Honesty and Industry will be the method of Thriving.
1736. Lillo, Fatal Curiosity, I. i. And he, who deals with mankind on the square,… undoes himself.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 75, ¶ 11. The greater part had indeed always professed to court, as it is termed, upon the square.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VIII. xii. ¶ 3. I shall act upon the square with you.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 378. Some of the fraternity … do not always deal ‘upon the square.’
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xiii. (1878), 255. I could not help doubting if everything was done on the square, as they say.
† c. Upon terms of equality or friendship with another or others; also, even or ‘quits’ with another. Obs.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. People, x. M.’s Wks. 1851, VIII. 227. They chose rather to be lorded over once more by a Tyrant … than endure their Brethren and Friends to be upon the square with them.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, III. 179. We live not on the Square with such as these: Such are our Betters who can better please.
1707. Reflex. upon Ridicule, 99. No body ventures to say in general, that he’s upon the Square with Men of a great Merit.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1736), III. 30. They are now upon the Square with one another.
d. In predicative use without const.: Free from duplicity or unfairness; honest, straightforward, upright. Now slang.
1682. Penn, in Dixon, Life, xxiii. (1872), 207. Keep upon the square, for God sees you.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 39, ¶ 20. They us’d Seconds, who were to see that all was upon the Square.
1731. Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, 262. All of them trade … in the most upright and friendly manner … with the Europeans, whenever the latter are upon the square.
1839. in ‘Ducange Anglicus,’ Vulg. Tongue (1857), 34. On the square, honest, square.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, I. xxxvii. 325. I’m not going to throw you over. I’ve always been on the square with you.
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 53. An unfortunate stowaway, who … was ‘peached’ on by a steerage passenger who he thought was ‘on the square.’
e. To set on or upon the square, to set or put right, or in proper order. rare.
1846. Trench, Mirac., 255. Awaiting the great day when all things shall be set on the square. Ibid. (1860), Serm. Westm. Abbey, xxiii. 262. Leaving much … to be redressed and adjusted and balanced, and finally set upon the square, on that great coming day.
f. In literal sense: At right angles; in a square or solid form.
1883. Specif. Alnwick & Cornhill Rlwy., 44. This Bridge is to be built under the Railway, on the square.
1904. Daily Chron., 1 Sept., 4/5. The Japanese soldier is never weedy. He is built on the square.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
12. In parasynthetic combs., as square-barred, -based, -bladed, -bodied, etc., or with pa. pples., as square-built, -ground, -hewn, -made, etc.; also square-looking.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & M., 164. *Square-barred Single Dot.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., 605. It is deposited in *square-based anhydrous octohedra.
1611. Cotgr., Sang-de-dez, little *square-bladed pocket daggers.
1643. R. Baker, Chron. (1653), 580. Sir Francis Drake,… a short *square-bodied man.
1752. J. Hill, Hist. Anim., 204. The square-bodied Syngnathus.
1843. G. P. R. James, Forest Days, ii. A tall, powerful, and *square-browed man.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. *Square built, bâti en carré.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 191. He stood … regarding his … square-built brother opposite.
1891. Tablet, 12 Sept., 437. Of contemporaneous design, like a square-built house.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Square-Butted, the yard-arms of small shipping so made that a sheave-hole can be cut through without weakening the yard.
1731. P. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Lotus, Red *square-codded Birds-Foot Trefoil.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xix. As *square-countered and flat-breasted a ten-gun model as ever ran her nose under salt-water.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 540. The *square-eared wheat is a very productive kind.
1832. Scoreby Farm Rep., 9, in Husb. (L.U.K.), III. The square-eared, or some other of the coarse descriptions [of barley].
1611. Cotgr., Escappe, a small *square-edged circle, or fillet in a piller, &c.
1850. Holtzapffel, Turning, III. 1319. Applying the stone longitudinally upon a square-edged mill.
1792. Mary Wollstonecr., Rights Wom., iv. 145. The *square-elbowed family drudge.
1884. F. M. Crawford, Rom. Singer, I. 108. This *square-faced boy of mine was more than a match for her.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 460. The face of a Lyon is not round,… but rather it is *square figured.
1879. Mrs. A. E. James, Ind. Househ. Managem., 11. I actually once saw *square-fronted night-dresses!
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 15836. A wel longe pyk *Squar grounden, scharp, euenlyk.
1899. Marg. Benson & Gourlay, Temple of Mut, i. 2. The *square-hewn doorways of the tombs hollowed out in the face of the cliff.
1892. Gunter, Miss Dividends, ix. 117. Two or three *square-jawed, full-lipped Mormon friends of his.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 914. They are all to be *square-jointed at least 2 inches from the face.
1853. T. T. Lynch, Self-Improvement, 11. A rude *square-looking country lad.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxxv. Saunders was a short *square-made fellow.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6963, *Square-mouthed travelling bags.
1894. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., II. 479. The largest of the group is the square-mouthed, or Burchell’s rhinoceros (R. simus).
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., i. 5. The *Square Nos’d Hand-Vice.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier (1871), 31. A *square set fellow, well fed and briskly appareled.
1888. Eggleston, Graysons, i. 6. Henry Miller was a square-set young fellow, without a spark of romance in him.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xvii. That stretch of wall with *square-shafted windows.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II. 108. A dark, tall, *square-shouldered man.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 3984/4. A Neat’s Leather Saddle, *square Skirted.
1860. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks., II. 303. Wig, square-skirted coat,… and all the queer costume of the period.
1822. Hortus Anglicus, II. 71. H. Nepetoides, *Square-stalked Hyssop. Stem sharply quadrangular.
1872–4. Jefferies, Toilers of Field (1892), 311. In the ditches the *square-stemmed figwort is conspicuous by its dark green.
1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 279/2. The thread of a *square threaded screw.
1848. Rickman, Styles Archit., 49. If it be *square-topt, it is called a tower.
1882. E. O’Donovan, Merv Oasis, I. 327. This village … consisting of little more than fifty square-topped huts.
1898. J. A. Gibbs, Cotswold Village, 3. A tiny village with its *square-towered Norman church.
b. Square-maker (see quot.).
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 151. A square-maker, a shipwright who cuts the butts to receive the oakum, and prepares the work ready for the caulkers.
13. In collocations used attributively, as square-box house, square-thread screw, etc.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 421. Noctua obeliscata. The square-spot Dart.
1859. Boyd, Recreat. Country Parson, v. 188. The square-box house comes forward humbly.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Square-Topsail Sloop, sloops which carry standing yards.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 252. Specimens of square-top Osage thorn.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. Q 16. 2 It is worked … by square-thread screws.
1893. Times, 14 July, 3/1. The same square-sett system of timbering is employed as that in use at Mount Morgan.
14. In special collocations: square battalion, battle, body (see quots.); † square book, some variety of church song-book; † square-bore (see quot.), bracket (see BRACKET sb. 5), coupling, cut, -face, frame, gin (see quots.); square-header, a square-headed sail; square hit, a hit at right angles to the wicket, esp. to square-leg; square-joint, -knot (see quots.); square-leg, the position in the cricket-field to the left of the batsman and nearly in a line with the wicket; the fielder stationed at this point; also attrib.; hence square-leg vb.; square main-sail, mark, Naut. (see quots.); † square muscle, one of the quadrate muscles of the loins; square-net, a fine net suspended so as to enclose a square, used in trapping hawks; † square-pair, Mining (see quot. 1747); square pianoforte, a piano of a rectangular form, now superseded by the upright or cottage piano; square ribbon, -rig, Naut. (see quots.); square-rigger, a square-rigged vessel; a sailor on such a vessel; square-roof (see quot.); † square rule = SQUARE sb. 1; square sets, shoot, staff, -stern, -tailing, timbers, tuck, twelves, work (see quots.); square-wright Sc., a carpenter whose work requires much use of the square; also attrib.; square yards Naut. (see quots.)
Some special uses also arise by ellipse, as square Chaldee or Hebrew (sc. characters); also square manuscripts (i.e., written with these characters).
1710. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., II. *Square Battel or Battalion of Men, is one that hath an equal number of Men in Rank and File.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch, Philopœmen (Rtldg.), 259/1. As for the order of battle, they had not been accustomed to draw up in a spiral form, but in the square battalion.
1711. Milit. & Sea Dict., A *Square Body; Which has as many Men in File as in Rank, and is equal whatsoever Way it faces.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 151. Square body, the figure which comprehends all the timbers whose areas or planes are perpendicular to the keel, which is all that portion of a ship between the cant bodies.
1537–8. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 378. Paid … for carolles for cristmas and for v *square bookes.
1538. Accs. Wells Cath. Chapter (MS.), 13 May, Libros cantuum crisporum sive diversorum, vulgariter nuncupatos square books and pricke song books.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 48. The *Square-bore, is a square Steel Point or shank, well temper’d, fitted into a square Socket in an Iron wimble…. Its use is to open a Hole [etc.].
1891. Daily News, 14 May, 5/2. They [inexperienced authors] place notes of interrogation … or notes of exclamation within *square brackets.
1831–3. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 110/1. Even in small machines, the *square coupling has been in many cases supplanted by the cylindrical box.
1855. Ogilvie, Suppl., Square-coupling, in mill-work, a kind of permanent coupling, of which the coupling-box is made in halves and square.
1850. Holtzapffel, Turning, III. 1323. The *square cut, or trap cut, is the most simple form of cutting facets.
1906. A. E. Knight, Complete Cricketer, ii. 77. Cuts are generally termed forward cuts, late cuts, and square cuts.
1879. Forbes, in Daily News, 13 June, 5/5. That potent fluid, the drink par excellence of the colony, that goes by the endearing name of ‘Squareface,’ and that in reality is the rankest of schiedam, is proferred from hospitable tents to the passing stranger.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 294. *Square frames, in shipbuilding, those frames which are square with the line of the keel, having no bevelling upon them.
1888. Churchward, Blackbirding, 102. What they called the wine of the country—*square gin.
1892. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Nevermore, II. xvi. A glass of spirits, be it sound cognac,… or … good square gin.
1882. Standard, 11 Aug., 6/6. Lorna and Chittywee last, the latter with a large jackyardtopsail set, the others having working *squareheders.
1837. New Sporting Mag., XI. 196. By swinging the bat nearly in the direction in which the umpire stands, making a *square hit.
1882. Daily Tel., 24 June. A square hit for 2 by Grace followed, which made up the century.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2294/2. *Square-joint, a mode of joining wooden stuff in which the edges are brought squarely together, without rabbeting, tongue, or feather.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Square-Knot, the same as reef-knot.
1851. Lillywhite, Guide Cricketers, 21. The Long Leg for a *‘square leg hitter’ should stand parallel to the wicket.
1873. Routledge’s Young Gentlm. Mag., May, 378/1. [He] was very nearly had at square leg the first ‘slow’ he got.
1894. Times, 28 May, 7/3. He made one particularly fine square-leg hit to the boundary.
1882. Daily Tel., 8 Sept., 3/6 (Encycl. Dict.). Mr. Read continued a fine display of well-judged hitting by *square-legging both bowlers for a couple each time.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 462. Main-sail. This, in a square-rigged vessel, is distinguished by the so-termed *square main-sail. Ibid., *Square or Squaring Marks, marks placed upon the lifts and braces [as guides in squaring the yards].
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 802. The first payre are called Quadrati the *square muscles;… they … lye as it were square vpon the rackes of the loynes.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. IV. i. 222. Haggards may be trapped in this country with the *square-net, or the bow-net.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., Q 3, Raising-Pair. These differ from a *Squarepair in this, that instead of a Collar made on the Forks, we make Tenners, so that the Forks are Tennered at both Ends, and the Sliders are Slotted at both Ends to receive the Forks.
1799. Young, in Phil. Trans., XC. 135. A *square piano forte.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVIII. 139/2. The square piano-forte … was taken from the clavichord, but … retains only its shape.
1875. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, s.v. Pianoforte, Upright pianos have been called giraffes from their tall appearance, and horizontal ones have been called couched harp, or square pianoforte.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Square Ribbons, a synonym of horizontal lines, or horizontal ribbons.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Square-rig, that rig in which the lower sails are suspended from horizontal yards, as distinguished from fore-and-aft rig.
1886. Daily Tel., 23 April, 2/3. There are many old *square-riggers … who will be curious to know what there is for Jack on board a steamer to put his hand to.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Square-roof, one in which the principal rafters meet at a right angle.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 38/2. In making these Angles we must use a *Square Rule.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Square sets, a kind of timbering used in large spaces.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., *Square Shoot, a wooden trough for discharging water from a building. Ibid., *Square staff, a piece of wood placed at the external angle of a projection in a room to secure the angle.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Square-stern, a build in which the wing-transom is at right angles to the stern-post, in contradistinction to round stern.
1881. Gentl. Mag., Jan., 62. Every five or six years there was a general muster technically termed *square-tailing,… to ascertain the precise number of cattle upon the station.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 151. *Square timbers, the timbers which stand square with, or perpendicular to, the keel.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 355. When the after part of the ship terminates in a straight plane which is nearly vertical, instead of the plank running up to the counter, she is said to have a *square tuck.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 130. *Square twelves, twelvemo laid down in imposition the ‘short’ or ‘square’ way, in contradistinction to ‘long twelves.’
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 233. *Square work, an old system of working the Thick coal by getting the upper beds first and then the lower ones. Ibid., Square work, a system of working a seam of coal by cutting it up into square blocks or pillars.
1752. Records of Elgin (New Spald. Cl.), I. 464. All chests, chairs, stools, spades, staves and other *squarewright work.
1825. Jamieson, Suppl., Squarewricht, a joiner who works in the finer kinds of furniture. Lanarks.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), *Square, a term peculiarly appropriated to the yards and their sails, implying … that they are of greater extent than usual.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, 257. *Square. This term is applied to yards that are very long.
b. In specific or distinguishing names of plants, animals, etc., as square barley, dory, -ear, fish, flipper, mussel, etc.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 152. *Square-barley, or winter-barley … is commonly sown in the mountainous parts of northern countries.
1731. P. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Hordeum, Winter or Square Barley, or Bear Barley; by some call’d Big.
1803. Shaw, Gen. Zool., IV. II. 291. *Square Dory. Zeus quadratus.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 540. The new sorts of wheat in that county are … the *square-ear, and the hoary brown.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. V. ii. 110. The *Squar-Fish. Piscis quadrangularis.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4), 173. Hooded or Bladder Nose … *Square Flipper.
1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 65, note. The Bay Seal,… the Hooded Seal,… and the ‘Square Flipper’ (probably Halickærus grypus).
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. VI. ii. 146. The *Square-Muscle. Concha Rhomboidea.
1548. Turner, Names Herbes, 22. Bunium … may be called in englishe *square perseley. Ibid., 17. Ascyron … maye be called in english *square saint Johans grasse.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 56. Dahl’s *Square Spot…. Wings … with a dusky square spot between the stigmata.
1843. Lowe, Fishes Madeira, 129. Tetragonurus Atlanticus.… The *Square-tail, or Sea-raven.
1896. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., V. 398. The curious Mediterranean and Atlantic fish known as Cuvier’s square-tail (Tetragonurus cuvieri).
1548. Turner, Names Herbes, 36. Euonymus … maye be called in englishe Spyndle tree or *square tree.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. VI. i. 130. The *Square-Wilk. Buccina Rhomboidea.
