1560s, from Italian squadrone, augmentative of squadra "battalion," literally "square" (see squad). As a division of a fleet, from 1580s, of an air force, 1912.

square cap worn by Catholic clergy, 1590s, from Italian beretta, from Late Latin birrus, birrum "large cloak with hood;" which is perhaps of Gaulish origin, or from Greek pyrros "flame-colored, yellow."

also do-se-do, common step in square-, contra-, polka-dancing, etc., 1929, from French dos-à-dos "back to back" (see dossier).

old form of bowling, 1801, from four + corner (n.). So called because the four pins in it were set at the corners of a square.

also thick-set, late 14c., thikke sette "with parts or things set close together" (of grass on a sward, etc.), from thick + set (v.). Meaning "stocky, strong and square-built" is recorded from 1724.

1560s, "a leisurely walk, a walk for pleasure or display," from French promenade "a walking, a public walk" (16c.), from se promener "go for a walk," from Late Latin prominare "to drive (animals) onward," from pro "forth" (see pro-) + minare "to drive (animals) with shouts," from minari "to threaten" (see menace (n.)).

Meaning "place for walking" is from 1640s; specifically "walkway by the sea" (from late 18c.); British sense of "music hall favored by 'loose women and the simpletons who run after them' " [The Observer, Jan. 18, 1863, in reference to the Alhambra in Leicester Square] is attested from 1863. Sense of "a dance given by or at a school" is from 1887.

"small, square single-colored display elements that comprise an image," 1969, coined to describe the photographic elements of a television image, from pix + first syllable of element.

name of the letter M, c. 1200, from Latin; the Greek name was mu. In printing, originally the square corresponding in dimensions to the capital M of that type.

"a square column or pillar," 1570s, from French pilastre (1540s), from Italian pilastro, from Medieval Latin pilastrum (mid-14c.), from pila, "buttress, pile" (from Latin pila, see pillar) + Latin -aster, suffix "expressing incomplete resemblance" [Barnhart].

1734, Caaba, cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque of Mecca, containing the Black Stone, the most sacred site of Islam, from Arabic ka'bah "square house," from ka'b "cube."