Also 5 squaryn, sqvare, sqware, 6 squyer. [ad. OF. esquarrer (escarrer, equarrer), = Pg. esquadrar, Sp. escuadrar, It. squadrare:—pop.L. *exquadrāre, f. L. ex out + quadra square. OF. had also esquarrir (escarrir, etc., mod.F. équarrir).]
I. trans. 1. To make (a thing) square; to reduce to a square or rectangular form, by cutting or some similar process; to shape by reduction to straight lines and right angles.
Freq. implying the production of a form approaching to a cube.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Kings v. 17. The kyng comaundide, that thei shulden take the greet stoonus … and thei shulden square hem.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. lxxiv. (Bodl. MS.). Stones … itake oute of quarers and þanne þei beþ ihewe, planed and sqwared.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 6100. The poyntes [were] squared eke so pleyn That the Ioynyng was nat sene.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 52. The iij. [knife] sharpe & kene to smothe þe trenchurs and square.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 142 b. The people of Israell … buylded a solemn temple … of stones precyous & quadrat or squared.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 263. The Rubies … are scoured and made cleane…. Yet can they not square and polyshe them.
1592. Greene, Def. Conny Catching, Wks. (Grosart), XI. 72. His beard squared with such Art.
1653. Apol. for Goodwin, 4. But this Stone is so ill squar’d, that one way it will be found to narrow, and the other to broad.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2668/4. Crown Window Glass…; which may be squared into all Sizes of Sashes for Windows and other Uses.
1754. Dict. Arts & Sci., s.v. Book-binding, After which the paste-boards are squared.
1801. Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 169. A square hedge of thickset, squared most trimly by the shears of the garden-barber.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 415. Those who … squared the Portland stone for Saint Paul’s.
fig. 1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. xliii. (1739), 70. It was a regular frame in every part, squared and made even by Laws.
b. To make (timber, etc.) square or rectangular in cross-section.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 2432. With a spere, squared for to byte,… Þe myȝty duke … Rood lyne riȝt … To Anthenor.
1503. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 275. To the wrichtis that squarit the tymir in the Hieland.
1530. Palsgr., 731/1. I wyll square thyse ookes to make tymber of.
1560. Pilkington, Expos. Aggeus (1562), 59. A carpenter which is not cunning to make the house, yet may he square trees.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 78. The Timber being squared before it be brought to London.
1725. Pope, Odyss., V. 316. He smooth’d, and squar’d ’em [sc. trees], by the rule and line.
1791. W. Bartram, Carolina, 312. I have some men at work squaring Pine and Cypress timber for the West-Indian market.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. xxvi. [He] Lopp’d off their boughs, their hoar trunks bared, And by the hatchet rudely squared.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. H 8. The other end [of the tube] being squared to receive the handle.
c. To mark out as a square or in rectangular form; to convert into, draw up in, a square; to mark off or out in squares.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., II. 109. A tabul square,… Feet scoris nyne in lengthe, as fele in wide; Let square hit so.
1530. Palsgr., 731/1. I squyer, I rule with a squyer, as a carpynter doyth his worke or he sawe it out, je esquarre.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & Fly, xvii. 27. Whiche sqwyre shall square me, a scantlin well bent, For a right rewle, to show me innocent.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 232. Squar’d in full Legion (such command we had) To see that none thence issu’d forth a spie.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 392/1. Take also the round aft,… and square it down to the pencil line last drawn.
1800. Phil. Trans., XC. 541. The Master General has been pleased to issue his directions for the survey of Devonshire, and as much of Somersetshire and Cornwall as will square the work.
1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 288. What frame … ever enclosed such a picture as is squared within the groundsel, side-posts, and lintel of a barn-door.
1877. Miss A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, vii. 176. The soil, squared off as usual like a gigantic chess-board.
d. With out (or up), in above senses.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Exascio, It is rough hewed or squared out, or it is begunne.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 443. This Pallace standeth alone, and founded vpon the skirt of a … hill…, squared out from a deualling steepnesse.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, I. ii. lviii. A large green turf squar’d out, all fresh and fine.
1837. W. B. Adams, Carriages, 96. Two holes are then bored in each mortice in succession, after which they are squared out with proper chisels.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. Q 16 2 Mortises are chased, and the ends squared-out.
1875. Carpentry & Join., 58. Take care to square up accurately the boards to form the front, back, and sides.
e. To form by making square; to cut in square or rectangular form. Also with out.
1584. B. R., trans. Herodotus, II. 94. Of the body of this thorne they sawe and square out certaine boardes two cubits longe.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 133. Or the timber of these trees are squared all necessaries, as well for buildings as all other vses.
1606. Choice, Chance, etc. (1881), 38. For his proportion he was squared out of a timber logge, which was crooked at both ends.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 742. It is not intended that this wood shall be cut out of large trees, but that it shall be squared from young trees or branches.
2. a. To multiply (a number) by itself.
1571. Digges, Pantom., I. xxx. Now square 2400 pase, so haue you 576000. Ibid., II. xii. The number proceeding of the perches squared.
1614. W. Bedwell, Nat. Geom. Numbers, iv. 65. I square the quotient 2, that is, I multiply it by it selfe.
1674. Jeake, Arith. (1696), 193. Then do I square 6, and it is 36.
1766. Compl. Farmer, s.v. Surveying, To square the diameter, and to multiply that square by 7854.
1804. Hutton, Course Math. (ed. 4), I. 8. 72 denotes that the number 7 is to be squared.
1894. Act 57 & 58 Vict., c. 60 Sch. 2 (2), To half the girth thus taken add half the main breadth; square the sum.
b. To convert (a circle) into an equivalent square; to measure exactly in terms of a square. Also fig.
1624. Donne, Serm., 14. Goe not Thou about to Square eyther circle [sc. God or thyself].
1674. Boyle, Excell. Theol., I. iii. 104. Mr. Hobbs, after all the ways he has taken, and those he has proposed, to square the circle [etc.].
a. 1704. T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., Voy., Wks. 1709, III. I. 12. You may as soon square the Circle, as reduce the several Branches … under one single Head.
1717. Prior, Alma, III. 366. Circles to square, and Cubes to double, Would give a Man excessive Trouble.
1798. Hutton, Course Math., II. 311. To square the circle, or find its area.
1871. C. Davies, Metric Syst., III. 68. The legislator … cannot square the circle.
c. To reduce (measurements) to an equivalent square; to calculate in square measure.
1811. P. Kelly, Univ. Cambist, I. 260. In squaring the dimensions of artificers work, the Inch is divided into 12 parts.
1828. Moore, Pract. Navig., 26. In like manner may any dimensions be squared, and the content be found.
3. a. Naut. To lay (the yards) at right angles to the line of the keel by trimming with the braces; to set at right angles to, or parallel with, some other part.
a. 1625. Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301), s.v. Yard, Wee square the Yards, that is make them hang either a Crosse and one Yard-arme not traversed more then th’ other.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 17. Hawl home the Top-sail Clue-lines, square the Yeard.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Lifts, The yards are said to be squared by the lifts, when they hang at right angles with the mast.
1806. T. Moore, Steersman’s Song, iii. But see…, All hands are up the yards to square.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, xii. The Estelle had squared her mainyard as a signal of submission.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Squaring the Dead-Eyes, bringing them to a line parallel to the sheer of the ship. Ibid., Squaring the Ratlines, seeing that all are horizontal and shipshape.
1894. Times, 10 July, 11/1. Booms were squared off and spinnaker booms rigged, but there was a mere breath to run with.
b. To adjust so as to make rectilinear or rectangular or to set at right angles to something else. Also with up.
1690. in Inchaffray Reg. (Bann. Cl.), 140. To divide and appropriat the same … as shall be necessary to square marches amongst the saids adjacent Heritors.
1796. Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 120. He … gives his words,… Halt! Dress! and corrects and squares his division.
1814. Scott, Lord of Isles, VI. xiii. The Monarch rode along the van,… His line to marshal and to range, And ranks to square, and fronts to change.
1837. J. Morier, Abel Allnutt, lvii. The clergyman drew forth his book and squared the table with two candles upon it.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xxiii. 171. Having squared her [sc. the mare’s] hips to the camp, he whispered something at her head.
1890. Anthony’s Photogr. Bull., III. 206. To ‘square’ a print upon a mount turn it face down.
fig. 1814. Cary, Dante, Parad., XVII. 25. I feel me on all sides Well squar’d to fortune’s blows.
(b) 1794. Rigging & Seamanship, 19. The butts of the coaks are then squared up.
1883. Specif. Alnwick & Cornhill Rlwy., 8. The stones to be roughly squared up in the beds and joints.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 369. This should be a useful appliance for squaring up hand cameras.
c. Astrol. To stand in quartile aspect in relation to (another sign).
1697. Creech, Manilius, II. 70. The Icy Goat, the Crab which square the Scales.
1852. ‘Zadkiel,’ Grammar Astrol., 394. [On] June 4th, 1738, Mars was on the cusp of the meridian, squaring the ascendant.
d. To set or place (some part of the body) squarely.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, v. The Saxon domestics squared their shoulders. Ibid. (1824), St. Ronan’s, xxxi. She does so stoop and lollop,… so cross her legs and square her arms.
1829. Lytton, Disowned, 149. Square your body a little more to your left.
1881. T. A. McCarthy, Calisth. & Drilling, 19. Square the heels and stand perfectly steady.
II. 4. fig. To regulate, frame, arrange, or direct, by, according to, or on some standard or principle of action.
(a) 1531. Tindale, Exp. 1 John (1537), 2. To consente unto ye law that it is ryghteous, and good;… and to rule and square all thy dedes therby.
1589. Nashe, Anat. Absurdity, Wks. (Grosart), I. 16. To eschew womens counsaile, and not to square our actions by their direction.
1620. E. Blount, Horæ Subs., 506. The very rules, by which all the actions of our life be squared and disposed.
1673. Penn, Christ. Quaker, vi. 540. A Light within, to know their Duty and Square their Lives by.
1712. Berkeley, Pass. Obed., § 13. He who squares his actions by this rule can never do amiss.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. Ded. He squared all his political conduct by their counsil.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xiii. The path of royal policy cannot be always squared … by the abstract maxims of religion and of morality.
1864. Hawthorne, S. Felton (1883), 418. The habits of Sibyl Dacy were so wayward, and little squared by general rules, that nobody … tried to account for them.
(b) 1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., V. i. 487. Thou art said to haue a stubborne soule That apprehends no further then this world, And squar’st thy life according.
1682. Norris, Hierocles, 83. Having his mind always intent upon the Law of God, squares his life accordingly.
1705. trans. Bosman’s Guinea, 170. According to this Rule, I squared my Conduct in my Judges Office.
1752. Fielding, Amelia, XII. v. The bailiff had squared his conscience exactly according to law.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, X. vi. ¶ 13. They … have squared their conduct for a length of time according to the maxims of their order.
1850. W. Irving, Goldsmith, xxiii. 239. Peter was poor but punctilious, squaring his expenses according to his means.
(c) 1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., viii. An accommodating conscience of a military stamp, and which squared itself chiefly upon those of the Colonel and paymaster.
1850. W. Irving, Mahomet, II. 104. He had shrewd maxims on which he squared his conduct.
b. To adjust or adapt, to cause to correspond to, or harmonize with, something.
(a) 1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, C iv. If thou canst … square thy life to her direction, she will allowe thee two seruants.
1634. Milton, Comus, 329. Eie me, blest Providence, and square my triall To my proportion’d strength.
1682. Norris, Hierocles, Pref. 29. Those Heathens who squared their actions to the law of natural reason.
1747. Richardson, Clarissa, II. 166. I should not know how to square it to my own principles.
1819. Keats, Otho, II. i. I cannot square my conduct to time, place, Or circumstance.
a. 1855. J. J. Blunt, On Early Fathers (1857), vi. 406. I am led to doubt if the testimony of the Fathers can be squared to it.
refl. 1715. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., I. 169. The same Resolves, most of the Protestant Reformers Abroad, as well as our Protestant Dissenters at Home, thought themselves oblig’d to square themselves to.
(b) 1856. N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 36. Not staying … to square his belief with the stern realities of criticism.
1884. Manch. Exam., 19 Dec., 8/4. The promoters do not seek to square their mission with sociological theory.
1904. H. Paul, Hist. Mod. Eng., II. iv. 61. Evidence was produced which could not be squared with this plea.
c. To arrange, adjust, render appropriate or exact, etc.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, Wks. (Grosart), III. 195. Your booke being readie for the Presse, Ile square & set it out in Pages.
1669. Phil. Trans., IV. 1134. I had no thought of squaring the comparison to agree in all circumstances.
1861. Max Müller, Sci. Lang., Ser. I. (1864), 340. Any attempt at squaring the classification of races and tongues must necessarily fail.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., I. xi. I. 144. When the majority belongs to the same party as the President, appointments are usually arranged, or to use a familiar expression, ‘squared,’ between them.
d. With out in above senses.
1578. Chr. Prayers, in Priv. Prayers (1851), 514. That we … may square out all our doings, words and thoughts, by thee.
1592. Conspir. Pretended Ref., 86. Doe not they … exact and seeke to square out … all ciuill policies … vnto the Iudicials of Moyses.
1603. H. Crosse, Vertues Commw., C 2 b. No man is wise, happy, or any thing worth, if Temperance square not out the course of his life.
1628. Prynne, Love-lockes, 21. The rules for naturall, must regulate and square out the length of artificiall Haire.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1662), I. xv. 45. I hope … both being put together, may square out the most eminent of the Antient Gentry, in some tolerable proportion.
5. To bring to an equality on both sides; to make even so as to leave no difference; to balance.
a. With accounts as object. Freq. fig.
1815. Ann. Reg., Gen. Hist., 22. For the purpose of squaring the civil list accounts.
1860. Thackeray, Lovel, iv. She would accept benefits,… but then she insulted her benefactors, and so squared accounts.
1888. Symonds, Life of B. Cellini, I. Introd. p. xlvii. He left the land of his adoption before he had properly squared accounts with King Francis.
b. With other objects.
1825. Scott, Jrnl., 7 Dec. Square the odds, and good-night Sir Walter about sixty. Ibid. (1828), 23 Feb. On squaring his books and making allowance for bad debts [etc.].
1853. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour, xviii. 87. If he couldn’t square matters at short notice, he would have no better chance with an extension of time.
1868. Chesney, in Wellesley’s Desp., 813. The Directors … still clung to trade as the only means of squaring their balance-sheet.
c. colloq. To put (a matter) straight; to settle satisfactorily, to compound.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxii. ‘I have squared it with the lad,’ says Mr. Bucket, returning, ‘and it’s all right.’
1872. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 615. We always square it with the usher.
d. With up: To settle (a debt, etc.) by means of payment.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Mrs. Hallib. Troub., III. xiv. I can square up some of my liabilities here.
1868. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 393. Square up everything whatsoever that it has been necessary to buy.
absol. 1904. N. & Q., 10th Ser. I. 62. It was high time for the young gentleman in the parlour to square up or to seek accommodation elsewhere.
6. slang or colloq. To conciliate, satisfy, or gain over (a person), esp. by some form of bribery or compensation; to get rid of (one) in this way.
1859. Slang Dict., 100. Squaring his nibs, giving a policeman money.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xlix. I told him the truth of the … story, and I think he is squared.
1885. Manch. Exam., 7 Jan., 5/4. Rich offenders … ‘square the reporters’ by giving them bribes on condition that their names shall not be printed in the newspapers.
b. To dispose of by murder.
1888. Churchward, Blackbirding, vii. 128. His ‘getting square,’ meant cutting throats; and if he didn’t lie, it would have taken a big ship to carry all the people he’d ‘squared’ up to date.
III. intr. † 7. To deviate or diverge, to vary (from something). Obs.
c. 1450. in Aungier, Syon (1840), 294. Sober, demewre, and chereful to speke to,… who[se] sadnes is not wonte to suffer them notably to square in their demenynge.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 93/1. The blessyd Lucye hath … Rightful goyng and deuocion to god with out squaryng out of the way.
1521. Fisher, Serm. agst. Luther, iv. Wks. (1876), 337. The prophetes somtyme left vnto themselfe dyd square from the trouthe.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rom., 19. Whiche froward minde,… synce it squareth from Gods pleasure, cannot be but against him.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, To Rdr. (Arb.), 15. I made a prosodia too my selfe squaring soomwhat from thee Latin.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 204. Yet there is not a definitive sentence of his touching any controversie known, squaring from the truth.
† b. To digress from one’s subject. Obs.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 29. That thereby they might understand … that I had not greatly squared, if I had pursued many moe diuisions.
1570. Googe, Pop. Kingd., II. 18. The Preacher … oft leauing it [sc. the Word], doth square And spend the tyme about complaints [etc.].
† c. To fall out of order. Obs.–1
1583. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., IV. 66 b. The enemie [was] … so handled, as that his Souldiers squared somewhat out of order.
† 8. To fall out, to be at variance or discord, to disagree or quarrel, with a person, etc.
1530. Palsgr., 731/1. Of all the men lyvyng I love not to square with hym.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Acts, 24. Sence your prohibicions doe vtterly square with his commaundementes, and that we cannot satisfie both the one and eke the other.
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, III. (1577), R viij. See Madam, our enimies begin to breake and to square one wyth another.
† b. Without const. Obs.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 255. Touchyng the stuffe wherof every of the said garlandes was made, Gellius & Suetonius dooe square & disagree.
1580. Sir H. Gifford, Poems (Grosart), 103. When men doe square for euery fly, To make them friends the women runne.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s Tears, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 201. Lyke the Geometritians, they square about poynts and lynes, and the vtter shew of things.
1607. Middleton, Fam. Love, IV. iii. Answer me roundly to the point, or else I’ll square.
† c. To dissent or differ from a person. Obs.–1
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXIX. lii. 1056. But I accord neither with them nor with Valerius. From them I square, because I find [etc.].
9. To accord, concur, or correspond, to agree or fit, with something.
1592. Wyrley, Armorie, 3. Wherein I may peraduenture not square in opinion with some others.
1608. D. T., Ess. Pol. & Mor., 118 b. True Vertue is alwaies like herselfe, she squares with euery accident.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, I. (1723), 42. The present Circumstances of these Marine Bodies do not square with those Opinions.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 139. When any other Person’s Account happens not to square exactly with what himself has observed.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 559. All disguises shall be rent away That square not truly with the scripture plan.
1843. Le Fevre, Life Trav. Phys., II. II. ii. 185. The apartment which he occupied squared well with its tenant.
1885. Clodd, Myths & Dr., I. iii. 45. The theory may be pushed to extremes in compelling every fact to square with it.
b. Const. to or unto. Obs.
1593. Abp. Bancroft, Daungerous Pos., IV. xv. 185. Thinges had not squared to their likings.
1642. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., 8. There is no Church, whose every part so squares unto my Conscience.
a. 1691. Boyle, Hist. Air (1692), 71. These two notions … square to all other the instruments and phenomena in nature.
1724. A. Collins, Gr. Chr. Relig., 251. Yet cannot this prophesy be made to square to the event.
c. Without const.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 29. In matters of life…, seeing they both square and differ herein from the Protestants [etc.].
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., II. 178. I set ’em by the rule, and as they square Or deviate from undoubted doctrine there, This Oral fiction, that old Faith declare.
1800. Coleridge, Piccolom., V. ii. A joy it is To exercise the single apprehension Where the sums square in proof.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xiii. (1856), 133. Of all things in the world, that is the very thing where your views and mine happen to square.
10. To strut or swagger. Obs. exc. dial. † Also with it and out.
(a) 1590. Greene, Neuer too Late, Wks. (Grosart), VIII. 165. Squaring in the streetes when thou shouldest bee meditating in thy chamber.
1591. Savile, Tacitus, Hist., II. lxxx. 105. The Tribunes also and other captaines in terrible sort, with multitudes of armed men, went squaring and ietting the streetes.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 115. Whereby … those gallants againe, squaring and ruffling thus in their colours, might court faire ladies.
1847–. in dial. glossaries (Devon, Lincs., Yorks.).
(b) 1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier, B 3 b. As quayntlye as if some curious Florentine had trickte them vp to square it vp and downe the streetes before his Mistresse.
1626. Breton, Fantastickes, Wks. (Grosart), II. 11/1. Now plummes and spice, Sugar and Honey, square it among pies and broth.
(c) c. 1600. Deloney, Gentle Craft, II. v. O the passion of my heart, how the villaine squares it out?
1605. Camden, Rem. (1623), 204. At another time, malapert boldnesse will square it out.
11. To put oneself into a posture of defence; to assume a boxing attitude.
1820. Hogg, Bridal Polmood, vi. He spit upon his hand and squared.
1823. Mrs. Sherwood, Henry Milner (ed. 2), III. xvi. Then beginning to square (to use an expression of Mr. Claydon’s) the enemy took to his heels.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xi. Selecting the one most of his own size, he squared and advanced on him.
b. Const. at or up to (a person). Also fig.
1827. De Quincey, Murder, Wks. 1854, IV. 24. Berkeley, feeling himself nettled by the waspishness of the old Frenchman, squared at him.
1848. in Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 327. There were Polk and Cass fidgetting and squaring up to Queen Victoria.
1893. Selous, Trav. S. E. Africa, 3. He squared up to his adversary and … struck him a heavy blow.
c. To draw oneself up into a more compact attitude.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 26 Feb., 7/1. Mr. Rhodes … pulled himself together and squared up.
12. a. To measure (so much) on each of four sides forming a square; to yield a square of (the dimensions specified).
1789. Trans. Soc. Arts, VII. 10. Spanish Chestnut Trees of a large size (one of them squared upward of two feet).
1792. Ann. Reg., Nat. Hist., 386. If it be cut when it squares only six inches, it will be as durable as an oak of six times its size and age.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 255. The alder … frequently squaring a foot for twenty feet in height.
1840. Schomburgk, Brit. Guiana, 93. Some of the blocks would square ten to twelve feet.
b. To increase in amount by squaring; to become square in form.
1854. Chambers’ Jrnl., II. 280. The extravagant accounts … seem not only to square, but to cube spontaneously.
1902. Rickart, Cypress Swamp, 46. His face had squared and hardened in its lines.
c. Naut. To sail away with the yards squared.
1887. in Cassell’s Encycl. Dict.
1894. Outing, XXIV. 422/2. There, he rounds the buoy and squares away.
1899. F. T. Bullen, Log Sea-waif, 313. We squared away to a spanking breeze.
13. colloq. With it: To live or act honestly.
1873. I. Taylor, Life David, vii. 91. Give a poor fellow a chance to square it for three months.
