ESQ

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

• ESQ (noun)
  The noun ESQ has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: ESQ used as a noun is very rare.

• ESQ (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Esq; Esquire

Hypernyms ("Esq" is a kind of...):

adult male; man (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman))

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

 Context examples 

My mother's name was Eyre; she had two brothers; one a clergyman, who married Miss Jane Reed, of Gateshead; the other, John Eyre, Esq., merchant, late of Funchal, Madeira.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to “Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was only said, 'Lately, George Wickham, Esq. to Miss Lydia Bennet,' without there being a syllable said of her father, or the place where she lived, or anything.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The heir presumptive, the very William Walter Elliot, Esq., whose rights had been so generously supported by her father, had disappointed her.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The pretty Miss Mansfield has already received the congratulatory visits on her approaching marriage with a young Englishman, John Melbourne, Esq.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Within a few days after this meeting, the newspapers announced to the world, that the lady of Thomas Palmer, Esq. was safely delivered of a son and heir; a very interesting and satisfactory paragraph, at least to all those intimate connections who knew it before.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Esq., of San Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.’ That is all.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This was the letter, directed to "Charles Smith, Esq. Tunbridge Wells," and dated from London, as far back as July, 1803:—Dear Smith,—I have received yours.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

This was the page at which the favourite volume always opened: Walter Elliot, born March 1, 1760, married, July 15, 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stevenson, Esq. of South Park, in the county of Gloucester, by which lady (who died 1800) he has issue Elizabeth, born June 1, 1785; Anne, born August 9, 1787; a still-born son, November 5, 1789; Mary, born November 20, 1791.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from the printer's hands; but Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the information of himself and his family, these words, after the date of Mary's birth— Married, December 16, 1810, Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross, in the county of Somerset, and by inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he had lost his wife.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)