(usually US, law) A lawyer.
A male member of the gentry ranking below a knight.
Example: Esquires and gentlemen are confounded together by Sir Edward Coke, who observes that every esquire is a gentleman, and a gentleman is defined to be one qui arma gerit, who bears coat-armour, the grant of which was thought to add gentility to a man's family. It is indeed a matter somewhat unsettled what constitutes the distinction, or who is a real esquire; for no estate, however large, per se confers this rank upon its owner.
An honorific sometimes placed after a man's name.
A gentleman who attends or escorts a lady in public.
(archaic) A squire; a youth who in the hopes of becoming a knight attended upon a knight
(obsolete) A shield-bearer, but also applied to other attendants.
