Meaning

noun (Middle Ages) an attendant and shield bearer to a knight; a candidate for knighthood

noun a title of respect for a member of the English gentry ranking just below a knight; placed after the name

originFrom Middle English esquier, from Old French escuyer, escuier, properly, a shield-bearer (compare modern French écuyer (“shield-bearer, armor-bearer, squire of a knight, esquire, equerry, rider, horseman”)), from Late Latin scūtārius (“shieldmaker, shield-bearer”), from Latin scūtum (“shield”); probably akin to English hide (“to cover”). The term squire is the result of apheresis. Compare…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0