to square with
3
6.7
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
saldar
- You wanna know why I'm putting you square with Lazarre?
- get square with
Examples
-
You've always been square with me.
-
- Are we square with you?
-
Your debt is square with me.
-
April, we're square with money.
-
I want to be square with you, just need to do my job.
Fiction book (1991) -
"You and I are square with each other."
Fiction book (1994) -
This puts you square with Jack.
-
Rent was paid up, so I'm square with the landlord.
Fiction book (1993) -
I'll square with you after I get my paycheck next week.
-
She made sure to square with her friends before going on the trip.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To give money for something you buy or owe
153
2.7
Repay all the money you owe on a loan
140
3.4
To pay money you owe
35
3.6
Give someone the money you owe them, often after they ask you
3
4.7
Pay someone what you owe or agree to end a disagreement
Antonyms
How Settled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'square' already carries the sense 'to bring accounts into agreement' and the preposition 'with' marks the other party involved, so the combined meaning 'to settle/pay someone' is a direct, compositional extension of the constituents. This pattern (reconciling accounts with someone) is conceptually transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the component meanings should be able to infer the MWE's sense.
Etymology
Square with may come from old shopkeepers who kept accounts and wanted them square, meaning even and balanced. So to 'square with' someone was to make the numbers even by paying them, and today it means 'to pay someone' or 'to settle a debt'.