guy
noun
a man or boy; fellow.
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:
"No, I don't think so. I think -- you know, he's an honorable guy," Trump said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2026
They were “trying to get their guy in there,” he said.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2026
He’s an adamantly good guy and the way the film yanks on us is by asking if being a good guy also makes you an idiot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026
Don’t yell at me about your favorite guy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026
“They’re having their last show, and I promised him I’d be here. He’s the guy I’ve been calling you about all summer long.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Also, travel advice site the Points Guy points out that Frontier’s new first-class seats “don’t actually recline.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026
The curse of the world’s richest Wife Guy: The global economy has been rattled by the news of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2026
Dry but chilly weather is forecast this week as millions plan to celebrate Guy Fawkes night on Thursday and the Hindu festival of Diwali on 8 November.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
The second season of the series, which co-stars Tom Hardy and is co-directed by Guy Ritchie, premiered in September.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
Guy bent down by a small clump of old mushrooms, near the boy’s feet, trying to get a better look at the plant.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
“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
NEW GUY: Rams receiver Sammy Watkins watched from the sideline in sweats after arriving in LA earlier in the day.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 13, 2017
GUY 2: And look who’s with him — Billy Joel!
From New York Times ● Oct. 18, 2016
Kobe Bryant: Has a profile but it was definitely written by a fan: The phrase "GUY CODE" is used.
From Time ● Jul. 11, 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
Old folkies will spot the genres being guyed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Both nations have networks of sonar buoys guyed to sea floors and connected by cable to onshore listening stations.
From Time Magazine Archive
At one side, guyed by half a dozen small hawsers, hung a battering-ram, a twelve-foot spar bound with iron, its nose pointing full-butt at a chrysanthemum in high relief on the belly of the bell.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
Best shot—the prefects guying Woodley about his love-affair.
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
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
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
Some of them, I fear, were made to feel that they would rather be dead than take the guying they got for this evidence of their verdancy.
From War from the Inside The Story of the 132nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in the War for the Suppression of the Rebellion, 1862-1863 by Frederick L. (Frederick Lyman) Hitchcock
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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.
