“square” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. a shape with four equal sides and four right-angled corners ○ A chessboard is made up of black and white squares. ○ Graph paper is drawn with a series of small squares. □ back to square one to start again from the point you originally started from (informal.) ○ The test plane crashed, so it’s back to square one again. 2. an open space in a town, with big buildings all round ○ The hotel is in the main square of the town, opposite the town hall. ○ Red Square is in the middle of Moscow. 3. (in mathematics) the result when a number is multiplied by itself ○ 9 is the square of 3. ■ adj 1. shaped like a square, with four equal sides and four right-angled corners ○ You can’t fit six people round a small square table. ○ An A4 piece of paper isn’t square. □ a square peg in a round hole someone whose character does not allow them to fit easily into a particular situation 2. making a 90° angle ○ There’s not one corner in the room that is square. 3. honest and fair ○ Are you being square with me? □ square deal honest treatment in business ○ They didn’t get a square deal from the tax office. □ we’re all square we do not owe each other anything (informal.) 4. multiplied by itself □ square metre (in mathematics) the area of one metre multiplied by one metre ■ verb 1. to make something square 2. to pay someone what is owed or to pay someone a bribe ○ They had to square a couple of local officials before the deal went through. 3. □ to square it with someone to see that someone gives approval (informal.) ○ Let me deal with it – I’ll square it with the inspector. 4. (in mathematics) to multiply a number by itself ○ 3 squared is 9.

honest; “on the SQUARE,” _i.e._, fair and strictly honest; “to
turn SQUARE,” to reform, and get one’s living in an honest manner,—the
opposite of “cross.” The expression is, in all probability, derived from
the well-known masonic emblem the SQUARE, the symbol of evenness and
rectitude.

“You must keep within the compass, and act upon the square with all
mankind, for your masonry is but a dead letter if you do not
habitually perform its reiterated injunctions.”—_Oliver’s Lectures
on Signs and Symbols_, p. 190.

“to be SQUARE with a man,” to be even with him, or to be
revenged; “to SQUARE up to a man,” to offer to fight him. Shakspeare
uses SQUARE in the sense of to quarrel.

n. [OF. esquarre, esquierre, F. equerre a carpenter’s square (cf. It. squadra), fr. (assumed) LL. exquadrare to make square; L. ex + quadrus a square, fr. quattuor four. See Four, and cf. Quadrant, Squad, Squer a square.]
1. (Geom.) (a) The corner, or angle, of a figure. [Obs.] (b) A parallelogram having four equal sides and four right angles.
2. Hence, anything which is square, or nearly so; as: (a) A square piece or fragment. “He bolted his food down his capacious throat in squares of three inches.” Sir W. Scott. (b) A pane of glass. (c) (Print.) A certain number of lines, forming a portion of a column, nearly square; — used chiefly in reckoning the prices of advertisements in newspapers. (d) (Carp.) One hundred superficial feet.
3. An area of four sides, generally with houses on each side; sometimes, a solid block of houses; also an open place or area for public use, as at the meeting or intersection of two or more streets. “The statue of Alexander VII. stands in the large square of the town.” Addison.
4. (Mech. & Joinery) An instrument having at least one right angle and two or more straight edges, used to lay out or test square work. It is of several forms, as the T square, the carpenter’s square, the try-square., etc.
5. Hence, a pattern or rule. [Obs.]
6. (Arith. & Alg.) The product of a number or quantity multiplied by itself; thus, 64 is the square of 8, for 8 × 8 = 64; the square of a + b is a² + 2ab + b².
7. Exact proportion; justness of workmanship and conduct; regularity; rule. [Obs.] “They of Galatia [were] much more out of square.” Hooker. “I have not kept my square.” Shak.
8. (Mil.) A body of troops formed in a square, esp. one formed to resist a charge of cavalry; a squadron. ´The brave squares of war.´ Shak.
9. Fig.: The relation of harmony, or exact agreement; equality; level. “We live not on the square with such as these.” Dryden.
10. (Astrol.) The position of planets distant ninety degrees from each other; a quadrate. [Obs.]
11. The act of squaring, or quarreling; a quarrel. [R.]
12. The front of a woman’s dress over the bosom, usually worked or embroidered. [Obs.] Shak. Geometrical square. See Quadrat, n., 2. — Hollow square (Mil.), a formation of troops in the shape of a square, each side consisting of four or five ranks, and the colors, officers, horses, etc., occupying the middle. — Least square, Magic square, etc. See under Least, Magic, etc. — On the square, or Upon the square, in an open, fair manner; honestly, or upon honor. [Obs. or Colloq.] — On, or Upon, the square with, upon equality with; even with. Nares. — To be all squares, to be all settled. [Colloq.] Dickens. — To be at square, to be in a state of quarreling. [Obs.] Nares. — To break no square, to give no offense; to make no difference. [Obs.] — To break squares, to depart from an accustomed order. — To see how the squares go, to see how the game proceeds; — a phrase taken from the game of chess, the chessboard being formed with squares. [Obs.] L’Estrange.

a. 1. (Geom.) Having four equal sides and four right angles; as a square figure.
2. Forming a right angle; as a square corner.
3. Having a shape broad for the height, with rectilineal and angular rather than curving outlines; as a man of a square frame.
4. Exactly suitable or correspondent; true; just. “She’s a most truimphant lady, if report be square to her.” Shak.
5. Rendering equal justice; exact; fair; honest, as square dealing.
6. Even; leaving no balance; as to make or leave the accounts square.
7. Leaving nothing; hearty; vigorous. “By Heaven, square eaters.
More meat, I say.” Beau. & Fl.
8. (Naut.) At right angles with the mast or the keel, and parallel to the horizon; — said of the yards of a square-rigged vessel when they are so braced. Square is often used in self-explaining compounds or combination, as in square-built, square-cornered, square-cut, square-nosed, etc. Square foot, an area equal to that of a square the sides of which are twelwe inches; 144 square inches. - - Square knot, a knot in which the terminal and standing parts are parallel to each other; a reef knot. See Illust. under Knot. — Square measure, the measure of a superficies or surface which depends on the length and breadth taken conjointly. The units of square measure are squares whose sides are the linear measures; as square inches, square feet, square meters, etc. — Square number. See square, n., 6. — Square root of a number or quantity (Math.), that number or quantity which, multiplied by itself produces the given number or quantity. — Square sail (Naut.), a four-sided sail extended upon a yard suspended by the middle; sometimes, the foresail of a schooner set upon a yard; also a cutter’s or sloop’s sail boomed out. See Illust. of Sail. — Square stern (Naut.), a stern having a transom and joining the counter timbers at an angle, as distinguished from a round stern, which has no transom. — Three-square, Five- square, etc., having three, five, etc., equal sides; as a three-square file. — To get square with, to get even with; to pay off. [Colloq.]