English

Etymology

Noun

1. A polygon with four sides of equal length and four angles of 90 degrees; a regular quadrilateral whose angles are all 90 degrees.

   I took refuge in the square form and exhibited a picture which consisted of nothing more than a black square on a white field.—Kazimir Malevich

2. An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.

   There are so many uses for the square, in fact, that a new model will usually come complete with a booklet enumerating its applications. - The Carpenter's Square

3. An open space in a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.

   You're not in Wisconsin, Dave. The big story isn't about a cow wandering into the town square. NewsRadio

4. Anything, such as tiles or cut pieces of material, primarily defined by being square in shape.

   You may not move a piece to a square already occupied by one of your own pieces.

5. The second power of a number, value, term or expression.

   64 is the square of 8.

6. A socially conventional person; typically associated with the 1950s

   Why do you always wear a tie? Don't be such a square!

7. The symbol # on a telephone; hash.

   Enter your account number followed by a square.

8. The central area of a cricket field, containing several pitches laid out next to one another - only one being used at a time.

   An ideal playing area is roughly circular in shape with a central area, the cricket square, measuring 27.44 metres by 27.44 metres and boundaries 45.75 metres from the sides of the square.

9. A unit of measurement of area, equal to a 10 foot by 10 foot square, ie. 100 square feet or roughly 9.3 square metres. Used in real estate for the size of a house or its rooms, though progressively being replaced by square metres in metric countries such as Australia.

   2006: Just as the basic unit of real estate measurement across the world is the square ... — Macquarie Bank (Australia), press release Macquarie releases Real Estate Market Outlook 2006 - "The World Squared", 21 June 2006 http://www.macquarie.com.au/au/about_macquarie/media_centre/20060621.htm

   2007: The house is very large and open and boasts 39 squares of living space plus over 13 squares of decking area on 3 sides and 17 squares of garage and workshop downstairs. — Your Estate advertisement for Grindelwald Tasmania http://www.yourestate.com.au/property_12753.php

10. A dessert cut into rectangular pieces, or a piece of such a dessert.
11. A mortarboard
12. A square meal.

    Even when times were tough, we got three squares a day.

13. A unit used in measuring roof area equivalent to 100 square feet (9.29 m2) of roof area.

Synonyms

Adjective

1. Shaped like a square (the polygon).
2. At right angles to.
3. Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself.

   square metre

   square mile

4. Honest; straightforward.

   It may be prison, but at least I'm getting three square meals a day.

5. Fair.

   I'm just looking for a square deal on my car repair.

6. Socially conventional; boring.
7. in line with the batsman's popping crease.
8. Correctly aligned with respect to something else

Synonyms

Verb

1. To adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else.

   The casting was mounted on a milling machine so that its sides could be squared.

2. To resolve.

   John can square this question up for us.

   These results just don't square.

3. Of a value, term or expression, to multiply by itself; to raise to the second power.

See also

• Wikipedia article on squares
• cubic
• quadrilateral
• rectangle
• rhombus