Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) conventionally, unsophisticatedly.

1971

R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 43: ‘He is squarely in love with one of those lesbians who have a fixation on flimflamming males’.

(orig. US) the world of the unsophisticated, the unworldly; the state of being in that world.

1954		Republican & Herald (Pottsville, PA) 8 July 4/7: Over here you’re flirting with ex-communication to Squaredom if you beat your palms together too freely [i.e. as applause].
1969		S. Greenlee Spook who Sat by the Door (1972) 27: He [...] decided that the strain of squaredom would have to be eased somehow from time to time.
1970		N. Mailer Of a Fire on the Moon (1971) 35: Collins’ implacable cheerful cool, Aldrin’s doughty monk’s cloth of squaredom.
1972		Atlantic Mthly 229 44: A special segment of squaredom, the angry squares— the disaffected middle-class and lower-middle-class voters, who are furious at the radical young.
1984		J. Stacy Rockin’ Reels 87: He returns to squaredom. But when he is again poised at the altar with his conventional bride, he again bolts for the street.
1994		Film History 6 360: [The] self-righteous squaredom of voice-of-authority lawman Jay C. Flippen.
2003		P. Simpson Rough Guide to Cult Pop 302: The second most popular artist of the 1950s (after Elvis), [Pat] Boone epitomised squeaky-clean squaredom.
2012		G. Tate 299 Days [ebook] She grew up in the 1950s and early 1960s, was raised by ‘squares,’ rebelled against all that was official American squaredom in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

1. honesty.

1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 83: It’s a dirty world – an unfair, lousy world. [...] They’s no squareness in it.
1941		Nambour Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser (Qld) 27 June 10/5: He’s measured by his justice, right; his fairness at his play, his squareness in all his dealings made, his honest, upright way.
1944		T. Thursday ‘Twin Lose or Draw’ in Popular Sports Spring 🌐 I want to thank you, Mr. Delaney, for your squareness [...] you have been darn white to me.

2. (orig. US black) conventionality, dullness.

1961		H. Ellison ‘Have Coolth’ in Gentleman Junkie 128: Once upon a when, Derry Maylor had been cool. But that was past [...] He had taken to squareness.
1968		‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 9: clyde – The ultimate handle for the ultimate in squareness.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 55: The mid-America beehive-and-poly-blend beyond-squareness of [...] just plain folks.

1. a conventional and thus boring place, person or event.

1953		‘Curt Cannon’ ‘Now Die In It’ in I Like ’Em Tough (1958) 57: I gathered he was from Squaresville.
1961		R.A. Norton Through Beatnik Eyeballs 21: Had these platters from Squaresville, like the ‘Gay Gordons’ and such.
1970		B. Oakley Salute to the Great McCarthy 1: I walk down the street [...] home, safe back in Squaresville after two enormous years.
1986		S. King It (1987) 933: Baseball was strictly Squaresville.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 100/1: They wanted out of the gang scene but didn’t necessarily want to retire to Squaresville.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1957		Motion Pic. 47 71: ‘Don't you know how to kiss a girl tenderly? Try it again. This time without the squaresville trimmings.’ I was shocked. The man had called me a square!
1999		Guardian Guide 10–16 July 10: Yet the squaresville suity doors slam in their face for 10 years.
2002		J. Ellroy ‘The D.A.’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 150: He was the Man. Some squaresville youth version.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 7: I had a squaresville home life in bumfuck Massachusetts.

one’s regular girlfriend.

1892		H. Lawson ‘Billy’s “Square Affair”’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 225: He would turn respectable, and wed a ‘square affair’.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 268: Square Bit: A sweetheart: A ‘Best Girl’ [...] Square Piece: A respectable young woman.

see under apple n.¹

(UK Und.) anything one has purchased or otherwise acquired honestly.

1812

Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 268: square: Any thing you have bought, or acquired honestly, is termed a square article; and any transaction which is fairly and equitably conducted, is said to be a square concern.

(US black) unsophisticated, naïve, ‘straight’; also as n., a ‘straight’ person.

1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 147: This is a square-assed town.
1968		S.A. Williams ‘Tell Martha Not to Moan’ in Cade Black Woman (1970) 50: Lord deliver me from a square-ass town with square-ass people.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 80: What the fuck was you doing with that square-ass Billy?
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 9: Dummy up you square ass punks.
1992		D. Dawley Nation of Lords 39: Now why should I fool with this square ass sonofabitch: ‘Fuck ya, man, I'm gone’.
1995		O. Hawkins Midnight 87: The last thing I need hanging around me is a square-ass white boy.
2011		C. Reel Happy Face 56: Bitches meet u on da streets den all a sudden dey want u to be dis square ass nigga.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 346: It was a hell-bent fuck pad in 1948. It’s a square-ass family home now.

(US) conventional.

1958

T. Capote Breakfast at Tiffany’s 91: Touching? That square-ball jazz!

(US und.) in a pickpocket gang, that member to whom the stolen article is passed and who then walks ‘innocently’ away .

1867

Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 26 Oct. n.p.: When the ‘wire’ has taken the pocketbook he passes it to the ‘coverer’ and the ‘coverer’ to the square bloke’ whose business it is to walk quickly off .

(US black) a conventional person, a fool, a dullard, with overtones of conservatism.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 19: You got [...] yo’ square brain, he don’t know wha’s happ’nin’. Don’ git high – nothin’.

see under broad n.²

(US black/prison) honesty, truth; often affixed to a declaratory sentence as a means of emphasizing the speaker’s sincerity.

1899		C.J.C. Hyne Further Adventures of Captain Kettle 205: She means square biz.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 419: Square business, Sonny? You mean he’s a real preacher?
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 75: Y’all know me, man, it’s all square business.
1981		Maledicta V:1+2 (Summer + Winter) 268: The truth is square business and being straight up, as in ‘that’s straight up, brother,’ is being truthful.
1981		Detroit Free Press (MI) 6 July 17/1: ‘I hate to appear lame [but] I just want to know what those kids are rappin’ about. I’m talkin’ square biz’.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 48: square business [...] ‘What I’m tellin’ you is square business.’.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 16: Ike had always told me the truth, had always done square business with me.
2009		W.D. Myers Dope Sick 13: ‘I didn’t shoot that cop. Rico shot him. Square business’.

1. (UK Und.) anything one has purchased or otherwise acquired honestly.

1812

Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 268: square: Any thing you have bought, or acquired honestly, is termed a square article; and any transaction which is fairly and equitably conducted, is said to be a square concern.

2. honest dealings .

1833		H. Smith Gale Middleton 1 149: ‘Come, come, my kiddies,’ said the first spokesman, who seemed to be the leader of this little gang;‘ this is to be a square concern: we all row In the same boat’.
1884		Buffalo Times (NY) 10 May 4/4We knew and felt that a fair and square concern could stand the test: .

see under cove n.

see under crib n.¹

(orig. US) honest treatment, a proper business deal, a good bargain etc.

c.1617		Fletcher Chances II i: Let’s have fair play, Square dealing, I would with ye.
1656		E. Gayton Wit Revived 12: Q. Why doe Lawyers weare round caps, and not square? A. Because square-dealing would undoe them.
1875		Burlington (IA) Hawk Eye 7 Oct. 4/1: This is the man with his ‘little game,’ a ‘fair, square deal,’ with an honest name.
1883		Bismarck (ND) Trib. 26 Jan. 8/1: The minister preached how vulgar it was to use slang [...] I knew he was givin’ us the square deal.
1893		S. Crane Maggie, a Girl of the Streets (2001) 52: Oh, I say, Nellie, this ain’t a square deal, you know.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 48: [He] saw in his old companion the same ‘Buck’ Cober of ‘square deals’ and no ‘beefs’.
1913		N.Z. Truth 23 Aug. 5/7: The Labour Premier [...] promised workers a ‘square deal’.
1914		R. Lardner You Know Me Al (1984) 79: Them reporters will have to give me a square deal this time.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 29: If I was to be treated in this way I would [...] go away where I could get a square deal.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 175: I h ope youse all got the same square deal youse give us.
1936		G. Greene Gun for Sale (1973) 20: You girls who go travelling round never get a square deal.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 308: I wasn’t aware I’d done anything but give you a square deal always.
1940		R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely (1949) 196: He would like someone who would see that he got a square deal.
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 37: It’s not a square deal if you bash him up now.
1959		J. Osborne World of Paul Slickey Act II: What we need, Freddie, is a square deal.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 148: Stokes was quite content with his rake-off from all bets and ostentatiously ensured all clients got a square deal.

see under go n.¹

see square-john adj.

see separate entries.

see separate entries.

(UK tramp) a private house whose owners are known to be generous to vagrants.

1891

Birmingham Dly Post 31 Mar. 3/4: A couple of miles from this very lodging-house was a ‘toff-crib’ (gontleman’s house), famous as a ‘square ken’ (good house) for every one who called.

see under moll n.

see under paper n.

see square affair

1. (US Und.) a ‘civilian’ who admires and mingles with criminals but lacks the courage or desire actually to commit a crime.

1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 206/1: Square plug. See more common Square-John [i.e. ‘A workingman; one not of the underworld’].

2. (US Und.) a prisoner who is not a professional criminal.

1950

Goldin et al. DAUL 206/1: Square plug. See more common Square-John [i.e. ‘Derisive term for accidental criminals whose behavior in prison betrays their alien status in the underworld’].

see under pusher n.

see separate entries.

(US black) a respectable party, without drugs, loud music etc.

1960

C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 11: My sister’s gone to square-settin with her chump.

(US) a fair deal, honest treatment.

1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 36: Behave and you’ll get a square shake.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 10: I give a man a square shake.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 7: I get me a square shake.

see separate entries.

to get even (with).

1872		J.D. McCabe Lights & Shadows 219: ‘I’m goin’ for him to-day [...] If he rides I’ll git square with him’.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 30: Murphy was compelled to yield to his demand, and that was the first attempt of Cringy to get square.
1888		W.B. Churchward Blackbirding In The South Pacific 128: I always get square with my friends before I have done with them [...] His ‘getting square’ meant cutting throats; and if he didn’t lie, it would have taken a big ship to carry all the people he’d ‘squared’ up to date.
1892		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Nevermore 239: I’ve got square with you so far [...] I’ll be more than even with you yet.
1893		S. Crane Maggie, a Girl of the Streets (2001) 53: I’ll get square with her, you bet. She won’t get far ahead of yours truly.
1906		A. Train Prisoner at the Bar 38: It is by virtue of this salutary provision of law [i.e. the validation of police violence in arrests] that the unscrupulous policeman gets ‘square’ with his enemies of the under world.
1912		A. Berkman Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (1926) 395: He lived the five years in the Joliet prison in the sole hope of ‘getting square’ with the man who had so meanly betrayed him.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 73: I’ll get square with you, Brockett!

1. honest, truthful, fair.

1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 168: Questionless ordinaries were first impartially founded, interdicting all play but which was upon the Square.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 268: square: In making a bargain or contract, any overture considered to be really fair and reasonable, is declared to be a square thing, or to be upon the square.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 298: [He] touch’d ’em up rare / for a thousand in Bennet Street (all on the square).
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 135: You pledge your word that all shall be on the square.
1843–44		Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1995) 168: I am forced to keep things on the square if I can.
1853		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 1 Oct. n.p.: Queries. Does a man mean that he is four cornered when he says he is ‘on the square?’.
1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce (1891) 227: Major, there’s a screw loose here — it’s not on the square, you understand.
1857		Bell’s Life in Sydney 9 May 3/3: John [...] seemed to fancy that all was not on the square.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 258: Ain’t it all on the square?
1870		B. Harte Luck of Roaring Camp (1873) 11: It ain’t my style to spoil fun, boys [...] but it strikes me that this thing ain’t exactly on the square.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Square (On the) - Honest, Fair.
1884		Dundee Courier 13 June 7/5: Eight notes were handed over to Jerry, who gave four to Fred, saying he would act on the square.
1887		Cumberland Mercury (NSW) 16 July 5/1: It is inconsistent to expect that the Circular Quay transaction should be ‘on the square’.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 85: I used to think it was n’t on the square to josh a man because he was from the country.
1896		M. Williams Round London 24: None of your hanky panky with me [...] if he’s cheap and it’s on the square, the dawg’s mine.
1917		Wodehouse ‘Crowned Heads’ in Man with Two Left Feet 88: Say, I’m on the level [...] You want to get that. Right on the square. See?
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 12: You’ll find me to be reliable and strictly on the square.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 27: I think you’re on the square with me, and I’m going to be on the up and up with you.
1927		D. Hammett ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 295: You’re on the square! You were white to me that time in Philly!
1930		E. Glyn Flirt & Flapper 28: Flapper: Decent means level — on the square.
1931		M. Harris ‘Facing the Mob’ in Gangland Stories Feb. 🌐 If your proposition’s on the square, I might’s well string along.
1943		R.L. Bellem ‘Phoney Shakedown’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Feb. 🌐 If all this stuff was on the square, I had a new view of the whole deal.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 108: Lola says you’re going to get the kid baptized. Is that on the square?
1968		T. Thackrey Gambling Secrets of Nick The Greek 247: I know you’re strictly on the square.

2. used adv., in an honest manner, truthfully.

1667		Dryden Sir Martin Mar-all I i: That’s the worst Game you could have played at, scarce one Woman in an hundred will play with you upon the Square.
1674		C. Cotton Compleat Gamester 5: These Rooks can do little harm in the day time at an Ordinary, being forc’d to play upon the Square.
1678		Behn Sir Patient Fancy II ii: Lady Fancy At Games of Love Husbands to cheat is fair, / ’Tis the Gallant we play with on the square.
1693		Petition of the Widows in Harleian Misc. X (1810) 171: We always fought upon the square, and therefore have no reason to be ashamed of a recital.
1704		S. Centlivre Gamester act I: She that marries a Gamester that plays upon the Square, as the Fool your Master does, can expect nothing but an Alms-house for a Jointure.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy II 65: I am resolv’d to teach you, / To Play upon the Square.
1724		A. Ramsay Tea-table Misc. (1733) IV 427: The true-hearted mason, who acts on the square.
1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 41: Whatsoever sleights Shuffle might practise on other occasions, he was very certain, that he had played on the square with them.
1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 379: He knew himself sufficiently qualified for playing with men of honour, who deal upon the square.
1799		Sporting Mag. Mar. XIII 337/1: I will admit you upon the square.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) III 247: I shall act upon the square with you.
1828		‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West I 136: ‘I have always thought it extremely weak of a sporting man, to risk money upon “square,” when he makes it upon the “cross”’.
1861		Age (Melbourne) 1 Oct. 5/2: A magistrate, Mr Smith added, was obliged to be conversant with slang. It was only the other day that he had to put a policeman right, when he said ‘on the square,’ and meant ‘on the cross’ .
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 102/1: Having a numerous family [he] thought that now was the time to ‘turn up gonnoffing,’ and do something for them on the ‘square’.
1879		London Life 21 June 4/2: ct on the square, and you will be able to take the girls to all the races.
1884		Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 31 May 35/2: I’ve cottoned to yer on the square clean through.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 20: It was all I could do to keep even by playing on the square with big ‘injins’.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 5 May 5/6: I am an Old Lag, and have been more or less ‘on the cross’ all my life. [...] about ten years ago I gave the crooked business best, and settled down to earning a livelihood on the square.
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 6: ‘On de square I was goin’ —’.
1897		Worker (Brisbane) 4 Sept. 8/3: A pound a hundred, ‘in or out,’ with rules and tucker fair, / He designates as ‘working white’ and shearing ‘on the square’.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 545: It’s better for Tabby to get money on the square than [etc.].
1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 5: Suddenly along came a drove of ducks. On the square, there must have been a million.
1900		J. Conrad Lord Jim 60: He was confident that, on the square, ‘on the square, mind!’ there was nothing he couldn’t meet.
1906		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein’ in Four Million (1915) 127: Chunk, if you get the girl get her on the square.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 155: Those felluhs don’t fight on the square.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 46: I split even on the square.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 185: Five grand to the girl that passed me the info. She got it on the square.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 301: This fight tonight is the first one you ever fought for me on the dead square.
1957		W.R. Burnett Underdog 48: ‘Say,’ said Clinch, how the hell old are you—on the square?’.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 216: On the square, Joey, this guy is bad news.

3. living an honest, law-abiding (and tedious) life.

1682		W. Penn in Dixon Life (1872) 207: Keep upon the square, for God sees you, therefore do your duty .
1728		Vanbrugh & Cibber Provoked Husband V ii: Marriage is, at worst, but playing upon the Square.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1839		(con. 1724) W.H. Ainsworth Jack Sheppard (1917) 225: We’re all on the square here.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. IV 95: I’m going to live on the square after this, Frank!
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 342: I’m on the square now [...] regular, straight and open.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act IV: He’s on the square, he is — bent on earning an honest livelihood.
1872		in ‘Mark Twain’ Life on the Mississippi (1914) 459: [as written] You told me if i would shake the cross (Quit Stealing) & live on the square for months, it would be the best job i ever done.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 244: She’d been there afore, when she was living on the ‘square’.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 2 Oct. 14/1: He knew [...] that the Casey family were not living ‘on the square’.
1887		W.E. Henley ‘Villon’s Straight Tip’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 177: Suppose you try a different tack, / And on the square you flash your flag?
1889		H. O’Reilly Fifty Years on the Trail 364: As horse-stealing has ceased to be a virtue, the boys now ‘go it on the square’.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 79: Square,‘on the square,’ reformed, living honestly, etc.
1903		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Dec. 32/4: ‘Long Jim’s a decent cove,’ said she, ‘when ’e is on the square, / An’ can shear more sheep than anyone round ’ere—’.
1911		J. Lomax Cowboy Songs 254: When I was a young man I lived on the square.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 406: The Deity ain’t no nickel dime bumshow. I put it to you that he’s on the square and a corking fine business proposition.
1929		W.R. Burnett Little Caesar (1932) 145: They all liked Jastrow, who had the reputation of being on the square.
1934		V.G. Burns Female Convict (1960) 16: What the hell is the use of trying to keep on the square in this world?
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 205: Them whole two years on the square, I didn’t have one good time.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 45: If you spot anything that doesn’t seem to be on the square.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 3: From now on I’m going to be on the square. I’m—I dunno—I’m going to change.
1962		A. Wesker Chips with Everything I ix: Come off it, Corp – you know we’re O.K. on the square.
1965		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 74: Why don’t you play the old game on the square?
1978		(con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 1–7: You’re offering me a fix if I’ll play it your way on the square.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 372: square John, an underworld term for a mark, especially a self-righteous person, on the square, who can be taken advantage of easily.

4. having revenged oneself, ‘even’ with someone.

1693		Dryden Juvenal III 39: We live not on the Square with such as these.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 268: To threaten another that you will be upon the square with him, some time, signifies that you’ll be even with him for some supposed injury, &c.

5. having settled all debts with someone.

1812

Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 268: To be upon the square with any person, is to have mutually settled all accompts between you both up to that moment.

6. (US Und.) trustworthy (to condone or perform illegal acts).

1844		C. Selby London By Night I ii: Don’t disturb yourselves, my dear boys, we’re on the square – not on the cross.
1907		Bliss From Boniface to Bank Burglar in Hamilton (1952) 47: The policemen who were inclined to be ‘on the square’ with us, disappeared.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 94: Kid, that’s what comes of bein’ on the square. If you’d burnt Shorty for his end of that coin [...] you’d have got a beatin’ instead of a lawyer.

7. (Aus.) conducting a regular monogamous relationship.

a.1909		G. Essex Evans in Stewart & Keesing Aus. Bush Ballads (1955) 286: And she was a perfect stunner, / Tall and fair; / Every digger longed to ‘run her / On the square’.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 3 Apr. 4/2: They Say [...] That I’ll have Annie on the square.
1924		Ida Cox ‘Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues’ 🎵 Now, when you’ve got a man don’t ever be on the square / ‘Cause if you do, he’ll have a woman everywhere.
1931		Blanche Calloway ‘Growlin’ Dan’ 🎵 My Dan is mean, but he’s on the square, / So he told old Min to take the air.
1944		L. Glassop We Were the Rats 48: Aren’t ya on the square with her?
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 281: Jimmy Brockett still liked his extra little bit of horizontal exercise on occasions but mostly I was on the square with Nan.
a.1963		‘The Fall’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 85: But I wanted to be fair and on the square, / I didn’t want to buck the saw.

8. (Aus.) sober, refusing to drink alcohol.

1912		Sport (Adelaide) 3 Feb. 7/2: Jack D. kept on the square, but the others had a ‘tid’ or two. Sparrow [...] fell in the water and settled his best Sunday go-Meeting suit.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 18 Jan. 13/3: They Say [...] That A.W. is on the square — drinking lemonade.

9. accurate.

1927

R. Lardner ‘Hurry Kane’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 97: Here was once that the name ‘Hurry’ was on the square. He [...] was in her room in nothing and no-fifths.

(Aus.) anything but honest or ‘square’, whether morally, sexually or otherwise.

1918		North Western Courier Narrabri, NSW 7 Feb. 4/5: I’m dead level and square as a billiard ball.
1927		Green Bay Press-Gaz. (WI) 23 Apr. 10/1: I should have known that the job was as square as billiard ball.
1950		‘No. 35’ Argot in G. Simes DAUS (1993) 192/2: square [...] (ii) Not addicted to homosexuality in any way; hence the litotes ‘square as a billiard (golf, tennis) ball’, i.e. irredeemably perverted.

(US) absolutely honest; thus adv. in an exemplary manner.

1844		Buffalo Commercial (NY) 11 May 2/3: You request me to ‘face up square as a brick’.
1860		Green Mountain Freeman (Montpelier, VT) 2 Feb. 1/2: ‘How does it hit you?’ ‘Square as a brick. Jest the thing’.
1915		Boston Globe (MS) 24 Oct. 44/6: Gov. Curtis is a fine type of Democrat — honest, square as a brick.

conventional.

1879		Peeblesshire Advertiser 9 Aug. 3/2: Volunteers have joined square-brained etymologists and wordy wordmongers.
1890		Lawrence Dly Gaz. (KS) 31 Jan. 2/2: Horniday has bought a half interest in the Sarina Republican. He is a square-brained man.
1900		Brooklyn Citizen (NY) 10 June 16/2: His later reputed keen appreciation of beauty [...] does not [...] tally with his early reputation as a practical, square-brained boy.
1911		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 30 Oct. 4/3: The story [...] concerned a ‘square’-brained and card-system crazy professor, whose rigid rules cost him a wife.
1928		Pittsburgh Sun-Teleg. (PA) pt 4 7 Oct. 11/5: A stiff Prussian bureaucrat [...] near-sighted and square-brained.
1993		Vancouver Sun (BC) 13 Feb. 28/1: It’s time to reconsider the square-jawed [...] square-brained hero.

(Aus.) orderly, lacking adornment (possibly through poverty); emotionally cold; also as n.

1917		Wkly Times (Melbourne) 1 Sept.6/1: ‘Cynthia!’ he gasped. ‘Jove! it’s cruel. Square Jane, and no nonsense, eh, my girl?’.
1918		Advocate (Melbourne) 5 Oct. 33/3: She’ll never attempt a garden, but, will let the hens scratch holes in the front yard all the week, and then sweep it clean and stark, with a square-Jane appearance, for Sunday.
1929		Truth (Perth) 8 Sept. 14/6: No, these lovely flowered gowns, all chic and gracefulness, are made for the rich and pampered woman, who never has to turn into a ‘square Jane, no nonsense’ unless she possesses genius.
1940		R.S. Close in Argus (Melbourne) 3 Feb. 6/1: But it was a good car, for all that. It was my first. I called her Hortense because she had a ‘square jane, no non-sense’ look about her.

(US black) extremely respectable, conservative, naïve.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 38: He square to d’ wood! ... Don’t get high, don’ smoke no weed.

1. honest, honourable.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 318/2: If I’ll humble myself I can have it all wiped off; and, as the song says, ‘We may be happy yet,’ because, as the saying is, it’s all square with God A’mighty.
1891		C.F. Lummis A New Mexico David 91: Thet wouldn’t be squar’ ’th the outfit. Yo’ all ’ve got’s much to say ’s I hev.
1916		J. Lait ‘Canada Kid’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 172: Dat guy ain’t got de firs’ idee about bein’ square wit’ a pal.

2. making amends with, made up with, even with.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 225: ‘To be square with a man,’ to be even with him, or to be revenged.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act I: He’s taken his oath [...] to be square with me for that Peckham job.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 17 Nov. 99: I hadn’t forgotten my resolution to get square with Hurd [...] and I asked him to send in his bill.
1907		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 12: I’m square with the wife and kid and you couldn’t get me back to the track with a pick ax.
1935		R. Chandler ‘Nevada Gas’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 173: I guess Nicky and I are all square with the law.

of a criminal, to reform, to join the world of the law-abiding.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1884		Dundee Courier 12 Feb. 7/6: ‘I’ll turn square if I can’ [...] ‘Ah! lad, it’s not so easy turning square as you seem to think. Who’ll give you a character?’.
1887		J.W. Horsley Jottings from Jail 23: Take my tip and turn square, from a hook who is going to be legged.
1908		Hopper & Bechdolt ‘9009’ (1909) 23: No more of this [...] I’ll turn square.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 301: How gladly he availed himself of the opportunity to ‘turn square,’ even though the reward was less.
1917		J. Lait ‘Charlie the Wolf’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 27: He’s prob’ly turned square and dropped out a sight.
1935		W. Smith Bessie Cotter 64: I was thinking of turning square-guy, too.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 101: If he does not make this six [...] I will be willing to turn square and quit gambling forever.
1978		W.D. Myers It Ain’t All for Nothin 116: ‘You want me to get a job and go square, right?’ .

(US) a security guard.

1994		P. Blauner Casino Moon 33: ‘I’ve already spoken to my good friend, Father Bobby D’Erico [...] about his hiring me as head of security [...] Maybe I could even take on one of you boys as a square badge’.
1994		M. McAlary Good Cop Bad Cop 36: After NYPD blue the guard uniform looked like a clown’s outfit. [...] ‘Do yourself a favor,’ said the square badge commanding the crew [etc].
2017		R. Friedman Street Warrior 224: How a square badge guard could afford the place on what I pay him is a mystery’.

one who watches an excess of TV and who, supposedly, develops eyes the same shape as the screen; thus square-eyed adj., obsessed with watching television.

1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 79: I stayed at Haggerston till the end of Columbo. I suppose an outsider would have marked us down as a typical square-eyed family.
1978		T. Davies More Aus. Nicknames 95: Square Eyes Is addicted to TV.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] Raymo, who’s sitting up the front with the rest of the square eyes [etc].

1. gin.

1880		W.E. Montague Campaigning in S. Afr. 98: Square-face is the invariable stuff, and you take as much as you like for a glass.
[1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 May 17/2: When the force arrested him he had – with a forethought born of much philosophic musing in the lonely bush – a square-faced bottle full of the same brand of tribulation].
1889		H.A. Bryden Kloof and Karoo 60: A little hollands (out here called square-face).
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 43: Keep off ‘square face‘ when you’re in trouble.
1900		B. Mitford Aletta 197: He got out the materials for a rough-and-ready cold supper, and some excellent ‘square-face’.
1908		E.S. Sorenson Quinton’s Rouseabout and other Stories 118: He was expected back that day, an’ he mostly lands chock-a-block with news from down country, an’ often as not with a ‘square-face.’.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Aug. 13/2: They made big money, but the most of it went on ‘square face,’ and whilst under the influence they played havoc with the nerves of the more sedate residents.
1916		J. London ‘The Princess’ Complete Short Stories (1993) III 2481: My concept of hell is an illimitable coconut plantation stocked with cases of square-face and populated by shipwrecked mariners.
1922		E. Dyson Missing Link 🌐 Ch. xiv: He found Schmitz, the portly proprietor, sprawling on his own bar counter, embracing a bottle of squareface with a loving hug.
1925		Black Mask Aug. III 68: He’d been drinkin’ heavy, only this time it was Squareface.
1931		B. Lubbock Bully Hayes 234: He had his bottle ‘squareface’.

2. (US) rum.

1897

Eve. Star (Washington, DC) 6 Feb. 21/5: Wherever [missionaries] went, powder and ‘square-face’ — rum — followed.

see separate entries.

(drugs) marijuana.

2001

ONDCP Street Terms 20: Square mackerel — Marijuana, term from Florida.

(US) the throw of double-four (eight) in craps dice.

2000		Reno Gaz. Jrnl (NV) 2 June 137/6: A prohibition was [...] rescinded just months ago with Bob tossing the first [...] square pair.
2002		‘The Lang. of Craps’ CasinoTips.org 🌐 EIGHT: ‘A square pair, like mom and dad,’ ‘Ozzie and Harriet,’ ‘the windows,’ ‘eighter from Decatur.’.
2011		V. Douglas Remember Marcy 400: ‘Square pair!’ [...] The game rolled on. Various voices called out the odd ritual phrases known only to craps players.

two pairs of married people indulging in a wife-swapping party.

1922

Joyce Ulysses 422: I only meant a square party, a mixed marriage mingling of our different little conjugals.

see separate entry.

an old man; a father, often as old square-toes.

1760		Foote The Minor 31: Have a care, old Square Toes, you will meet with your match.
1771		Smollett Humphrey Clinker (1925) I 179: Old Squaretoes was differently affected.
1784		J. O’Keeffe Young Quaker 19: Old Square-toes is finely taken in.
c.1790		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Pathetic Odes’ Works (1794) III 380: Old Square-toes, thank my God, has caught my fleas.
1799		Sporting Mag. Apr. XIV 40/1: I will write directly to old Square-toes [...] and draw on him for money to pay the bookseller’s bill.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1825		S. Woodworth Forest Rose I iv: Old Squaretoes must not suspect.
1836		A. Thornton Don Juan in London II 16: Where’s pa, and Unky Square-toes, and sister Prue?
1841		W.J. Neale Paul Periwinkle 77: ‘D--me, my boy’ said old Squaretoes.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 192: Several times he faltered, for the devil showed him first all his old friends calling him ‘Saint’ and ‘Square-toes’.
1862		Thackeray Adventures of Philip (1899) 146: I had a little mischievous pleasure in infuriating Square-toes.
1876		Vermont Gaz. (Bennington, VT) 16 June 1/8: Old Square-toes threw himself bodily on him and wrested the iron from his grasp.
1888		Chicago Trib. 15 July 17/1: Old Mr Squaretoes brought down his stickj with an emphasis.
1894		Western Veteran (Topeka, KS) 4 Apr. 1/3: A puddle on the garden walk which he had evidently walked across [...] and Squaretoes had hopped over.
1905		Wash. Times (DC) 16 July 16/4: Doesn’t that show the dear old square-toes that Thackeray [...] did more harm in the world than [...] libertines.
1919		C.S. Montanye ‘The Man Who Never Forgot’ Detective Story 17 Dec. 🌐 The town is full of square toes keeping the lid down so tight.
1941		(con. 1848) N. Devitt Celebrated S. Afr. Crimes 31: To Durban he had brought nothing besides the nickname of Jeremy Squaretoes, by which he was generally known.
1956		Dly News (NY) 26 Aug. 88/5: Square-toes had turned east toward the Piney.
1963		A.S. Fleischman Venetian Blonde (2006) 147: Squaretoes [...] you got a mind like an unflushed toilet.