Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also square up) to settle, to put right, spec. to deal with problems, often by using influence, bribes, threats etc.; thus n. square, any form of corruption (see cite 1897).

1822		(con. early 17C) W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II 246: Now, were it not better, my prince of flat-caps that matters were squared between you.
1838		R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 10 Feb. 115: Vill yer stand a drink to square it?
1835		Worcester Herald 26 Dec. 4/3: Square the broke [sic] for a bus, take his attention off whilst I pick his pockets.
1847		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 30 May 4/1: There was lot of talk about the Farmer’s Daughter baving been squared for the Oaks. All a hoax, and nothing more.
1853		Dickens Bleak House (1991) 316: It’s all squared, you see, as I squared it myself, sir.
1856		Age (Melbourne) 13 Dec. 5/2: [H]e has a ‘down’ on them to be ‘squared’.
1860		Argus (Melbourne) 14 Feb. [N]o llittle astonishment was expressed [...] when it was rumoured [...] that the charge had been, to use a ‘slang’ term, ‘squared’ .
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 202: It can surely to God be squared between so many of you, and only the moll to come against me.
1879		Sheffield & Rotherham Indep. 11 Oct. 9: The ‘old lag’ [...] is certain of good treatment [...] if his ‘pals’ (companions) outside the prison ‘square the screw’.
1882		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 8 Sept. 7/3: Can’t I square you? I’ll sling you a quid to say nothing about this affair.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 6/2: Earl Powis’ brother […] has been committed for trial for an offence of the Cornwell grade. All the reporters were squared, and nothing transpired about the case for over three days after the committal.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Sept. 6/4: [T]he day must come when the most expert of squarers can square successfully no longer, and there is an end even to the efficacy of hush-money.
1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 29 May 2/3: [He] is now again in the bosom of his family. He squared himself with the Elyria damsel out ot the fat purse of his present wife.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 13: I just think you would beg my pardon, and to show you mean it stand a couple of shants of bevarly to square the boys.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 10 Feb. 5/5: The openly-expressed suspicion is that the prosecutor has been ‘squared’ by the accused’s friends.
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 13: ‘I spends $4 in de joint squarin’ it, so’s we won’t get pinched’.
1897		Truth (Sydney) 10 Jan. 5/3: We’ve heard of funny things, of squares and jockey rings.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 67: He constructed his first block of tenement houses with thinner walls and less commodious apartments than the law commands: he was obliged to ‘square’ the building committee.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 25 Sept. 1/5: One flash little gentleman openly charged the daily press [...] with being ‘squared’ to unfairly advocate the claims of the public.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 42: I’ve squared the dago waiter to keep the joke up.
1906		Punch (Melbourne) 27 Sept. 4/2: They cudn’t ply a fair and onerst gime if they wos paid fer it; they [...] ’ad squared ther umpire. It was red ’ot.
1912		A. Brazil Fourth Form Friendship 85: ‘We’ll manage to square them somehow,’ said Phœbe. ‘I don’t think they’ll tell Miss Drummond’.
1916		C.J. Dennis ‘Duck an’ Fowl’ in Moods of Ginger Mick 15: Now, when a bloke ’e cracks a bloke fer insults to a skirt, / An’ wrecks a joint to square a lady’s name.
1918		E. Ferber ‘That’s Marriage’ in One Basket (1947) 47: I had to come back and square things with you, Terry.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 306: Were you round at the court? says Joe. – Yes, says J. J. He’ll square that, Ned, says he. – Hope so, says Ned.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 79: ‘She is going to square things with Oscar Winthrop, so there will be no trouble from him,’ he continued.
1932		V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 23: If it only costs a few bucks to square up a case, I wouldn’t mind.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 117: I’ll square things with your folks.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 49: He squares himself by saving the life of the D.I.
1968		L. Wolf Voices from the Love Generation 66: How do your square your job, your income, with the belief that the culture is corrupt.
1968		J. Alard He Who Shoots Last 22: ‘If Lawson can’t fix the blue it can’t be squared’.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 98: I want to try and square things with him.
1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 207: I spent a week in the remand yard out there on an assault charge [...] Price squared it for me.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 164: I have to square things with Char.
1997–2000		College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Square bit’ness (verb) Handle your business; take care of things (before they take care of you).
1999		P. Temple Black Tide (2012) [ebook] ‘Armits,’ he said. ‘Squared first [...] Hundred and sixty [i.e. A$160,000].
2008		T. Piccirilli Fever Kill 77: Good, get it squared, then we’ll square up, see where we stand.
2012		P.J. Lambe ‘The Name Between the Talons’ in ThugLit Oct. [ebook] ‘Payback time for us squaring you with Lester’.

2. to pay off or bribe a policeman; thus square his nibs v., to pay off a policeman; squared adj.

1859		G.A. Sala Gaslight and Daylight 130: The police naturally appeared [...] and a great deal of expense was entailed upon him in ‘squaring’ these functionaries.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 100: SQUARING HIS NIBS, giving a policeman money.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 45/2: Has you squared the Peeler?
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 271: The number of things ‘squared’ between thieves and the police would astonish the British public if they were all brought to light.
1890		‘Welsher’s Confession’ in Seal (1999) 143: Just then a ‘demon’ came up, and I squared him with two quid.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 441: That establishment has been closed, owning to the meanness of the proprietor in not properly squaring the gentlemen in blue.
1914		Joyce ‘Grace’ Dubliners (1956) 158: ‘I suppose you squared the constable, Jack,’ said Mr M’Coy.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 35: The first thing we’ve got to do is square the hotel dicks.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 11: If a ‘rap’ threatened, and this was a Federal offense, hard to square or beat, the ‘monkeys’ would be jettisoned without hesitation.
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 215: I was running a book in the lane behind a pub. Had all the coppers squared from the inspector down.
1980		T. Lewis GBH 18: ‘Ever thought about squaring Farlow with us? [...] We could offer him more than the Shepherdsons do’.

3. to pay one’s debts; to pay a bill.

1839		Columbian Register 2 Apr. 4: A tin pedlar has cleared the coop, hook and line, bob and sinker, without being able to square his accounts!
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 149/1: After ‘squaring’ the driver in we went to the ‘crib’.
1890		Sporting Times 8 Feb. 1/2: Now I wonder if I’ve enough to square this bally Italian. [...] How much do I owe?
1899		‘Tom Bluegum’ Backblocks’ Parson 181: ‘Say, mister, how much jink [sic] ’ll take to square us?’ ‘My fee is two guineas,’ replied the preacher.
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 29: Got any money with which to square yourselves for this trip?
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 469: Norman suggested to Mark that he should begin to square accounts.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 75: He told me he was into Mick for sixty quid. They were supposed to square last week.

4. (UK Und.) to sort things out with another person.

1863		Leeds Times 12 Dec. 6/5: Quick as you can, girls [...] feel in his pockets, and hand it over here; we’ll square in the morning.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 70/1: Then ‘square’ yourself as you best can, and take the omnibus to Edinburgh.
1895		J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life I 66: A few coppers sufficed to get rid of the youngsters, and then we had to ‘square’ the woman.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘In Vino Veritas’ Sporting Times 30 June 1/4: He pretends, all the same, that he’s squared the old Dutch, / But he can’t be believed when he’s sober!
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Dec. 36/2: Yer see, [...] when a bloke breaks up over ’is girl yer don’t want ter go near ’im, ’n’ yer want to keep ’er away from ’im, too, coz when she starts squarin’ ’im ’e only gets worse and finishes up by gettin’ drunk. Then next mornin’ ’e fetches 40 bob for heavin’ his science about ’n’ tearin’ a uniform.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 116: I’ll go right home and square myshelf.
1910		H. Hapgood Types from City Streets 60: It will take a lot of ‘treating’ and the exploitation of much temperamental good-nature before I can ‘square’ myself with him.
1912		R. Service ‘Barb-Wire Bill’ in Rhymes of a Rolling Stone 85: Though no saint on earth, d’ye think—Bill’s squared hisself with Heaven?
1933		J. Spenser Limey 10: Unless I had at least five hundred dollars [...] to square the people who mattered.
1952		W. Winchell On Broadway 17 Sept. [synd. col.] Borey Pink, the d.j., once pleaded [...] ‘square me with Pegler, who is wrecking my sleep.’.
1969		M. Puzo Godfather 137: Mike, we can square everything, witnessess and so forth.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 128: Frank [...] ain’t I always squared with you guys?

5. (US) to place someone in an advantageous position.

1879

Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 11 Oct. 6/3: ‘We had a nice long talk and told him the whole programmne [...] Gave it to them as nice as I could and squared you’.

6. to give or lend money.

1886		Globe (London) 10 Mar. n.p.: They have squandered enormous sums of money in squaring a huge army of committee men, collectors, and other hangers-on [F&H].
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 82: You’ve got to square the waiter every time you go in the dinin’-room.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 183: There’s as many as thirty hungry ones who [...] must be met an’ squared.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 110: The constable was sore about the burglary and wouldn’t square them for a ride into Salt Lake.

7. (also square off, square up) to make things equal.

1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie III vi: Hamlet, let’s square accounts—Tho’ there’s some little diff’rence in amounts— Mine, and my father’s death, ’gainst your’s be reckon’d.
1886		Field 25 Sept. n.p.: Mr. Laidlay won with six, and squared matters [F&H].
1890		Sporting Times 1 Mar. 3/2: He would have in a doctor and tell him everything but the square-toed truth about his symptoms, and so as to square accounts utterly ignore and disobey that doctor’s diagnosis and prescription.
1920		F. Williams Hop-Heads 101: I put up more than $1,000 to square him and he double-crossed me and ran off with the next ‘lot’.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 76: He was trying to square all this prosperity with what he knew of poor old Bicky.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 177: I don’t know his name, but then he didn’t know mine [...] which squares things up a bit.
1945		B. Frame Crown Jewels are Missing 45: This isn’t murder, McClune. You’ve got a chance to square things, take your punishment, and again be the sort of man I think you are.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 26: It doesn’t square up.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 111: We’ll square this off, soon as I can cool down a little.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 195: You made me look bad in front of my friends and now I’ve got to square things.

8. (US Und.) to gain a pardon.

1928

J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 121: ‘Have you ever thought about squaring that North Carolina jolt?’ [...] ‘You mean you can get me a pardon [etc.].’.

9. (also square oneself) to take up a respectable, honest life.

1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 193: I marvel to this day I did not quit my stealing right then and there [...] Yet the thought of turning to the right, squaring myself and starting anew never entered my mind.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 180: SQUARE.– [...] to leave a life of crime or to abandon the road.

10. (US gay) to have heterosexual intercourse with.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 188: square somebody to have heterosexual coitus ‘Square your wife before you square your mistress: remember the priorities.’.

11. see square up v.¹