squint 
Not meaning . . . 
His iik-iisuiv m- his good alone, 
But xquiiitiii'i partly :it my own. 
Cowper, To Rev. W. Bull, June 22, 1782. 
II. trans. 1. To render squint or oblique; 
affect with strabismus. 
Let him but use 
An unsway'd eye, not squinted with affections. 
lleymod, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 226). 
He gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes 
the hare-lip. Shak., Lear, iii. 4. 122. 
2. To turn, cast, or direct obliquely. 
Perkin . . . raised his Siege, and marched to Taunton ; 
beginning already to squint one eye upon the crowne and 
another upon the sanctuary. 
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII., p. 183. 
squillter (skwin'ter), . [(.squint + -er 1 .] One 
who squints; a cross- or squint-eyed person. 
I pass over certain difficulties about double images, 
drawn from the perceptions of a few squinters. 
W. James, Mind, XII. 523, note. 
squint-eyed (skwint'Id), a. 1 . Having eyes that 
squint; "having eyes with non-coincident axes. 
2r! Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 103. 
2. Oblique; indirect; sinister; malignant. 
This is such a false and squinteyed praise, 
Which, seeming to look upwards on his glories, 
Looks down upon my fears. 
Sir J. Denham, The Sophy. (Latham.) 
3. Looking obliquely or by side-glances: as, 
squint-eyed jealousy or envy. 
The hypocrite . . . looks squint-eyed, aiming at two 
things at once : the satisfying his own lusts, and that the 
world may not be aware of it. 
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 494. 
squintifegot (skwin-ti-fe'go), a. [< squint + 
-ifego, an arbitrary termination.] Squinting. 
The timbrel, and the squintifego maid 
Of Isis, awe thee. 
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, T. 271. 
Squinting (skwin'ting), n. [Verbal n. of squint, 
v.] The act or habit of looking asquint; stra- 
bismus. 
squintingly (skwin'tiug-li), adv. With squint 
look; by side-glances. 
squint-minded (skwint'min ;! 'ded), . Deceit- 
ful; crooked-minded. Vrquhart, tr. of Rabe- 
lais, ii. 34. [Rare.] 
squinyt, v. i. See squinny. 
squir (skwer), v. t. and i. [Also squirr ; a var. 
of *quir for whirr: see u-hirr.] To throw with 
a jerk. [Prov. Eng.] 
I saw him squir away his watch a considerable way into 
BudgeU, Spectator, No. 77. 
pieces of tile or flat stones across ponds or 
ke what are denominated ducks and drakes. 
HalUweU. 
squiralty (skwlr'al-ti), n. [< squire^ + -ally, 
after the analogy of loyalty.] Same as squire- 
archy. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, I. xviii. 
[Rare.] 
squirarchy, n. See squirearchy. 
squire 1 (skvrir), n. [Also dial, square; early 
mod. E. also squier; < ME. squier, squyer, sqtvier, 
scivier, swyere, by apheresis from esquire: see 
egmrfre 1 .] 1. An esquire; an attendant on a 
knight. 
Than tolde Grisandolus how he dide laugh before the 
abbey and in the chapell, for the squyer that hadde smyten 
his maister, and the dyuerse wordes that he hadde spoken. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 428. 
The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires, 
And gentlemen of blood. Shak., Hen. V., iv. 8. 94. 
2. A gentleman who attends upon a lady ; an 
escort; a beau; a gallant. 
And eke himselfe had craftily devisd 
To be her Squire, and do her service well aguisd. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 21. 
3. A person not noble nor a kuight, but who has 
received a grant of arms. 4. In England, a 
landed proprietor who is also justice of the 
peace : a term nearly equivalent to lord of the 
manor, as meaning the holder of most of the 
land in any neighborhood. 5. In the United 
States, in country districts and towns, a justice 
of the peace, a local judge, or other local dig- 
nitary: chiefly used as a title Broom-squire 
See the quotation. 
"Broom-squires?" "So we call in Berkshire squatters 
on the moor who live by tying heath into brooms." 
Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xiv. 
Squire of dames, a man very attentive to women and 
much iu their company. 
Marry, there I'm call'd 
The Squire of Dames, or Servant of the Sex. 
Massinger, Emperor of the East, i. 2. 
Squire of the body, a personal attendant, originally on 
a knight, but later on a courtezan ; a pimp. Squire of 
the padt, a footpad ; a highwayman. 
Sometimes they are Squires of the Pad, and now and 
then borrow a little Money upon the King's High Way, to 
recruit their losses at the Uaming House. 
Tom Brown, Works (ed. 1705). 
5882 
squire 1 (skwir), r. t. ; pret. and pp. squired, ppr. 
Kqiiiriiii/. [< ME. "squin-ii, xqnen-n; < xquire 1 , 
.] 1. To attend and wait upon, as a squire 
his lord. 2. To attend, as a gentleman a lady ; 
wait upon or attend upon in the manner of a 
squire ; escort. 
For he squiereth me bothe up and doun, 
Yet hastow caught a fals suspeccioun. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 305. 
To squire women about for other folks is as ungrateful 
an employment as to tell money for other folks. 
Wycherley, Country Wife, iv. 3. 
squire 2 t, n. An old form of square^. 
squireage (skwlr'aj), . [< squire 1 + -age.] 
The untitled landed gentry ; the squires of a 
country taken collectively. De Morgan, Bud- 
get of Paradoxes, p. 46. [Rare.] 
squirearch (skwlr'iirk), n. [< squircarch-y.] A 
member of the squirearchy. 
Man is made for his fellow-creatures. I had long been 
disgusted with the interference of those selfish squire- 
archs. Bulu'er, Caxtons, ii. 11. 
squirearchal (skwlr'ar-kal), a. [< squirearch 
+ -al.] Of or pertaining to a squirearchy. 
Imp. Diet. 
squirearchical ( skwir' ar-ki-kal), a. [< squire- 
arch-y + -ic-al.] Of, pertaining to, or charac- 
teristic of squirearchy or a squirearch. Sulwer, 
My Novel, i. 10. 
squirearchy (skwir'ar-ki), . [Also squirarchy ; 
< squire 1 + Gr. apx' a , ru l e (after analogy of 
monarchy, etc.).] 1. In England, government 
by the squires, or "country gentlemen" that 
is, the large landed proprietors, most of whom 
are justices of the peace, and who, before the 
Reform Bill of 1832, and to a certain extent af- 
ter it, had great influence in the House of Com- 
mons. Hence 2. The squires themselves col- 
lectively. 
squireen (skwir-en'), n. [< squire^ + dim. -een, 
common in Ir. words.] In Ireland, a small 
landed proprietor: usually contemptuous. 
Squireens are persons who, with good long leases or val- 
uable farms, possess incomes of from three to eight hun- 
dred a year, who keep a pack of hounds, take out a com- 
mission of the peace, sometimes before they can spell (as 
her ladyship said), and almost always before they know 
anything of law or justice. MissEdgeworth, Absentee, vii. 
squirehood (skwir'hiid), n. [< squire^ + -hood.] 
The state of being a squire ; the rank or posi- 
tion of a squire. Swift, Letter to the King at 
Arms. 
squirelt, . An obsolete form of squirrel. 
squirelet (skwir'let), n. [< squire? + -let.] A 
petty squire; a squireling. Carlyle, Misc., iii. 
56. (Dairies.) 
Squireling (skwir'ling), . [< squire 1 + -ling 1 .] 
A petty squire ; a squirelet. 
But to-morrow, if we live, 
Our ponderous squire will give 
A grand political dinner 
To half the squiretings near. 
Tennyson, Maud, xx. 2. 
Squirely (skwir'li), a. [< squire 1 + -ly 1 .] Be- 
fitting or characteristic of a squire. 
One very fit for this squirely function. 
Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote, i. 4. (Latham.) 
How could that oligarchy [the Southern states of the 
United States], with its squirely tastes, its free wasteful 
outdoor life, its love of landed property, and its contempt 
for manual labour, become a trading community? 
The Academy, July 20, 1889, p. 32. 
squireship (skwir'ship), n. [< squire 1 + -sliip.] 
Same as squirehood. Shelton, tr. of Don Quix- 
ote, i. 4. (Latham.) 
squiress (skwlr'es), n. [< squire 1 + -ess.] The 
wife of a squire. Bulwer, Pelham, vii. (Davits. ) 
[Colloq., Eng.] 
Squirm (skwlrm). v. i. [Prob. a var. of squir, 
tnrow with a jerk, influenced by association 
with swarm and worm : see squir.] 1. To wrig- 
gle or writhe, as an eel or a worm; hence, to 
writhe mentally. 
You never need think you can turn over any old false- 
hood without a terrible squirming and scattering of the 
horrid little population that dwells under it. 
0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, v. 
They [worms in the pupa state] only squirm a little 
in a feeble way now and then, and grow stiffer, till they 
squirrel-fish 
squirel, squyrellc, xcurcl, swerelle, su'i/rclle, < OF. 
esquiret.escurel, cscuirel, cscurcitl. r.sriv//, <.- 
I'/iricit, F. ecureuil = Pr. fscnrul = Sp. Pg. exifui- 
lo (cf. It. scojattolo, scojatto), < ML. MHtrtMM, 
xciurellus (also, after Rom., scuri<iln.i, xrnr<'lliux, 
escurellns, corruptly siroyriltun, riroyrit/us, cxpe- 
riolus, asperiolus, etc.), dim. of L. sciurus, < dr. 
GKiovpor,, a squirrel, lit. 'shadow-tailed,' < onia, 
shadow, + o'vpa, tail. For the sense, cf. E. dial. 
skuy, a squirrel, lit. 'shade': see skug.] 1. A 
rodent quadruped of the family Sciuriilee and 
genus Sciurus, originally and specifically Sciu- 
i-n.-i rulynriii of Europe. " Squirrels have pointed ears 
and a long bushy tail ; they are of active arboreal habits, 
and are able to sit up on their hind quarters and use the 
fore paws like hands. S. rulgaris, called in England 
skug, is a squirrel 8 or 10 inches long (the tail being nearly 
can't squirm at all, and then they're mummies, and that's 
the end of it till the butterflies are born. 
Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, viii. 
2. To climb by wriggling; "shin": as, to S<J>M>I 
up a tree. 
squirm (skwerm), n. [(squirm, r.] 1. A wrig- 
gling motion, like that of a worm or an eel. 
2. Naut,, a twist in a rope. 
squirr, v. See squir. 
squirrel (skwnr'el or skwir'el), n. [Early mod. 
E. also squirril, squerrel, squirel, squiril; < ME. 
European Squirrel (Sciurus vulgarise. 
as much more), with an elegant reddish-brown coat, white 
below, and the ears tufted or penciled. It lives in trees, 
is very agile and graceful in its movements, feeds on all 
kinds of small hard fruits, nests in a hole, hibernates to 
some extent in the colder latitudes, and brings forth usu- 
ally three or four young. It is readily tamed, and makes 
an interesting pet. The North American squirrel nearest 
to this one is the chickaree, or red squirrel, 5. hudsonius. 
(See cut under chickaree.) The common gray squirrel of 
the United States is S. carolinensis. (See cut under Sciu- 
rus.) Fox- or cat-squirrels are several large red, gray, or 
black species of North America. (See cut under fox- 
squirrel.) North America (including Mexico and Central 
America) is very rich in squirrels; southern Asia and 
Africa are less rich, while South America and Europe have 
each but a single species of Sciurus proper. In the ex- 
tension of the name squirrel to other genera of the family, 
the species of Tamias, SpermophHus, and Cynomys are 
distinguished as ground-squirrels or prairie-squirrels, and 
some of them are also called marmot-squirrels (see cuts 
under chipmunk, SpermophHus, ou'l, and prairie-dog)', 
those of Sciuropterus and Pteromys are Jlying-squirrels 
(see cuts under Jlying-squirrel and Sciuropterus). The 
scale- tailed squirrels of Africa belong to a different family, 
Anomalurida. (See cut under Anomaluridx.) Certain 
Australian marsupials, as phalangers or petaurists, which 
resemble squirrels, are improperly so called. (See cut 
under Acrobates.) Some Sciuridx have other vernacular 
names, as skug, assapan, taguan, jelerang, hackee, chick- 
aree, gopher, sisel, suslik, prairie-doy, wishtomt-ish, etc. ; 
but squirrel, without a qualifying term, is practically con- 
fined to the genus Sciurus, all the many members of which 
resemble one another too closely to be mistaken. See the 
technical names, and cuts under taguan and Xerus. 
2. In cotton-mantif., one of the small card-cov- 
ered rollers used with the large roller of a 
carding-machine. Also called urchin Bark- 
Ing squirrel, the prairie-dog : an early name of this ani- 
mal as brought to notice by Lewis and Clarke in 1814. 
Burrowing squirrel, Lewis and Clarke's name (1814) of 
a prairie-dog, or some related prairie-squirrel. Chip- 
pLng-squirrel, the chipmunk. Federation squirrel, 
the thirteen-lined spermophile, or striped gopher: so 
called in allusion to the thirteen stripes of the nag of the 
original States of the American Union. 5. L. Mitchill, 
1821. See cut under SpermophHus. Hunt the squir- 
rel. See hunt. (See also Jlying-squirrel, prairie-squirrel, 
sugar-squirrel. ) 
squirrel-bot (skwur'el-bot), n. A bot-fly, Cu- 
titerebra emasculator, whose larvse infest the 
genital and axillary regions of various squir- 
rels and gophers in the United States, particu- 
larly the scrotum and testicles of the male of 
Tamias striatus, the striped chipmunk. 
Squirrel-corn (skwur'el-korn), . A pretty 
spring wild flower, Dielytra (Dicentra) Cana- 
densis, of eastern North America. It has elegant 
dissected leaves, graceful racemes of a few cream-colored 
heart-shaped blossoms, and separate yellow tubers which 
resemble kernels of Indian corn. See Dicentra. Less com- 
monly called turkey-corn. 
squirrel-cup (skwur'el-kup), n. The hepatica 
or liverleafl 
squirrel-fish (skwur'el-fish), . 1. Any fish of 
the family Holocentridse, and especially of the 
genus Holocentrus. The numerous species are re- 
markable for the development of sharp spines almost 
everywhere on the surface of the body. The name refers 
to the noise they make when taken out of the water, 
which suggests the bark of a squirrel. //. pentacanthufiot 
the West Indies, occasional on the United States coast, is 
chiefly of a bright-red color, with streaks shining length- 
wise; its bright tints and quick movements make it one 
of the most conspicuous denizens of rocky tide-pools. 
See cut under Hotocentridx. 
