1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxviii. 'Wanted to fight the Frenchman'; . . . and he laughed, and he squared with his fists.
1854. W. Collins, Hide and Seek, i. 12. Here Zack came in with the gloves on, squaring on the most approved prize fighter principles as he advanced.
1861. Dickens, Great Expect., xliii. I planted myself side by side with Mr. Drummie, my shoulders squared and my back to the fire.
1878. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, 50. He who can sit squarest on a three-legged stool, he it is who has the wealth and glory. Ibid., Epil. He again squared his elbows over his writing.
5. Miscellaneous Phrases.—To square the circle = to achieve the impossible; 'How go squares?' = 'How do you do?'; a square peg in a round hole = anything misplaced or incongruous; straight down the crooked lane and all round the square = a humorous way of setting a man on his word; all fair and square = above board, dependable.
Square-cap, subs. phr. (old).—A
London apprentice.
1651. Cleaveland, Poems [Nares]. But still she repli'd, good sir, la-bee, If ever I have a man, square-cap for me.
Square-Face, subs. phr. (common).—An
inferior gin made, chiefly in
Germany, for barter with and
consumption by savages.
Squarehead, subs. (Australian).—1.
Formerly a free emigrant; now
(2) a German or Scandinavian.
See Square.
Square-toes, subs. phr. (old).—An
old man (Grose); a fogey
(q.v.); a precisian (q.v.); also
Old Squaretoes. Hence
square-toed = formal, prim,
testy.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Clinker (1900), i. 65. He seems to have a reciprocal regard for old Squaretoes, whom he calls by the familiar name of Mathew.
1772. Bridges, Burlesque Homer, 23. Old Square-toes . . . Call'd silence; but he first with care Lifted his buttocks off his chair.
1860-3. Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, xi. Have we not almost all learnt these expressions of old foozles, and uttered them ourselves when in the square-toed state. Ibid. (1862), Philip, xv. I have heard of an old squaretoes of sixty who learned very satisfactorily to dance.
Squarson, subs. (common).—See
quots., Squishop, and Portmanteau-word.
Whence
squarsonage = a parsonage.
1886. A. Lang, Mark of Cain, ix. He held the sacrosanct position of a squarson, being at once Squire and Parson of the parish of Little Wentley. Ibid. She left the gray old squarsonage, and went to London.
1888. Living Church, 25 Aug. The . . . Rev. W. H. Hoare, of Oakfield, Sussex . . . was the original of the well-known expression, invented by Bishop Wilberforce, Squarson, by which he meant a landed proprietor in holy orders.
Squarum, subs. (shoemakers').—A
lapstone.
Squash, subs. (colloquial).—1. A
smash, a soft or flat mass; and
(2) a mellay: spec. (Harrow), see
quot. 1876. As verb. = (1) to
crush or smash: also to go
squash = to collapse; and (2) to
silence by word or deed. Hence
squasher, squashiness, and
squashy.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, ii. 1. One of the reapers approaching . . . made me apprehend that with the next step I should be squashed to death under his foot. Ibid., ii. 7. My fall was stopped by a terrible squash.
1824-9. Landor, Imag. Conv., 'Southey and Porson,' ii. Give a trifle of strength and austerity to the squashiness of our friend's poetry.
