[es.quire] n [ME, fr. MF escuier squire, fr. LL scutarius, fr. L scutum shield; akin to OIr sciath shield] (15c) 1: a member of the English gentry ranking below a knight
2: a candidate for knighthood serving as shield bearer and attendant to a knight 3--used as a title of courtesy usu. placed in its abbreviated form after the surname "John R. Smith, Esq."
4. archaic: a landed proprietor