guy
noun
a man or boy; fellow.
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guy
1 American
[gahy]
/ gaɪ /
noun
-
Informal. a man or boy; fellow.
He's a nice guy.
-
Informal. none guys people, regardless of their gender.
Could one of you guys help me with this?
-
Chiefly British Slang. a grotesquely dressed person.
-
British. Often Guy a grotesque effigy of Guy Fawkes that is paraded through the streets and burned on Guy Fawkes Day.
verb (used with object)
guyed,
guying
idioms
guy
2
American
[gahy]
/ gaɪ /
noun
verb (used with object)
guyed,
guying
Guy
3
American
[gahy, gee]
/ gaɪ, gi /
noun
guy
1
British
/ ɡaɪ /
noun
-
informal a man or youth
-
a crude effigy of Guy Fawkes, usually made of old clothes stuffed with straw or rags, that is burnt on top of a bonfire on Guy Fawkes Day
-
a person in shabby or ludicrously odd clothes
-
informal (plural) persons of either sex
verb
guy
2
British
/ ɡaɪ /
noun
verb
Guy
3
British
/ ɡaɪ /
noun
GUY
4
British
abbreviation
Etymology
Origin of guy1
First recorded in 1800–10; after Guy Fawkes
Origin of guy2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English gi(e), from Old French guie “a guide,” derivative of guier to guide
Explanation
A guy is a dude, a boy, a man, or really anybody. It's an informal way to refer to a person, especially a male. But a group of people can be guys, even if they’re all female. Hey guys! Another meaning of guy comes from a guy rope, which is basically a rope that supports something like a tent to a pole. What a guy! So to guy means “to support” or “tie to” and not just physically. It’s almost like a “guide” which comes from Old French guie, and ultimately from a Germanic root. The sense attributed to a person or a fellow comes from two sources: a French proper name for a male (related to Guido in Italian) and Guy Fawkes, who famously plotted to blow up Parliament in 1605 and is still burned in effigy yearly on the British Guy Fawkes Day.
Vocabulary lists containing guy
First-Name Basis: Words That Are Also Names
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
You seem like a guy who knew it at the time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
"I'm just a homeless guy pushing a shopping trolley, and the next thing you know is this," he said, nodding to the crowds lining the bridge.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Americans have been enchanted by sequoias since the 1850s, when a guy chasing a bear stumbled across the biggest tree he had ever seen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
In nearly every speech where he mentions Paxton, Trump has to talk about how hideous the guy is and how poorly he supposedly dresses.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
The guy standing a few feet away from me addresses the woman behind him.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Gray was more enthralled by artists such as Duane Michals and Guy Bourdin, who wielded the camera to surreal effect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly spoke with MarketWatch’s Genna Contino to help her pick her first rewards credit card — and shared further tips for beginners in the points game.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
Slow Horses, now in its sixth season, has been an Emmy-nominated success, and, after a brief absence, Eleazar has returned to playing the spiky Louisa Guy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
On the first day of its Music Live Auction on Thursday, the highest-selling lot was a notebook by the Queen frontman which contained handwritten working lyrics and notes from the Mr. Bad Guy recording sessions.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Guy sounds like a real piece of work, as Daddy would put it.
From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone
“Is this THE GUY who was supposed to give us the $2 million or is this his relative?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2022
GO-TO GUY: In recent years, Sanders was the go-to guy.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 25, 2018
Kobe Bryant: Has a profile but it was definitely written by a fan: The phrase "GUY CODE" is used.
From Time ● Jul. 11, 2011
GO-TO GUY Over the past few years, Bourkoff gained accolades by advising on the sale of some of the most distressed cable assets in the United States.
From Reuters ● May 6, 2011
Among the romances of the Anglo-Danish cycle by no means the least celebrated is that of GUY OF WARWICK.
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
Certainly, political and religious leaders, the rich and powerful are mercilessly guyed, but this is surely the mot juste, because the disjunction between these effigies and the people they represent is understood by all.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2015
It's as if they think they have to imitate someone other than themselves, to summon up a pretend, all-purpose actress who can be guyed.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 15, 2013
Both nations have networks of sonar buoys guyed to sea floors and connected by cable to onshore listening stations.
From Time Magazine Archive
The tubes were guyed to earth at each end and inflated; they rose in arches.
From Time Magazine Archive
I was not strong—my stomach failed me; the girls thought that very funny, and guyed me unmercifully.
From Life on the Stage by Clara Morris
Waters' hole card is Johnny Depp, the winsome tough from TV's 21 Jump Street, who radiates big- screen grace and swagger as Cry-Baby -- no easy trick, since he is guying his own image.
From Time Magazine Archive
One thinks of Rowlandson as purely English, because of his devotion to the English scene and his delight in guying the manners and affectations of the French.
From Time Magazine Archive
Best shot—the prefects guying Woodley about his love-affair.
From Time Magazine Archive
The cumulative effect of its guying would not nettle even the income tax bureau, for Funnyman Cantor pokes lightly at an array of straw men.
From Time Magazine Archive
A short perpendicular gaff spar, under the bowsprit-end, for guying down the jib-boom, of which indeed it is the chief support, by means of the martingales.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
