guy
noun
a man or boy; fellow.
Showing results for guy.
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Guyed.
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:
That is perilously close to telling the other guy at the negotiating table how to negotiate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026
I’ve seen it open on the laptop at the kitchen table at 11 p.m., with property taxes, insurance and the lawn guy all in little columns.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2026
“After that, I couldn’t get him to shut up. Great guy, great player and I miss him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026
"He will get there, goodness willing. He is a tremendous guy and he deserves it."
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
It shoots into the outfield for a single, and the man in front of us yells, “Why would you pitch that guy up and in? Terrible pitch selection. Terrible!” and his kid boos some more.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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
The stories and novellas of Honoré de Balzac, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov and Robert Louis Stevenson have sustained me through dark and stormy nights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
For the record, Guy is a physically fit woman in her 60s who has not undergone cosmetic surgery, whom many women would kill to look like.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
If I want a really good steak, I’ll go to the Nice Guy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Lili and Guy rushed to him and tried to wake him.
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
Kobe Bryant: Has a profile but it was definitely written by a fan: The phrase "GUY CODE" is used.
From Time ● Jul. 11, 2011
"AWESOME GUY" Born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, Kasich rose to prominence on the national political stage when he used his role as chairman of the House Budget Committee to help balance the federal budget.
From Reuters ● Aug. 12, 2010
Originally, it was nothing more than a garden for medicinal plants, formed under that title, in 1626, by GUY DE LA BROSSE, principal physician to Lewis XIII, who sanctioned the establishment by letters patent.
From Paris as It Was and as It Is by Francis W. Blagdon
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
The tubes were guyed to earth at each end and inflated; they rose in arches.
From Time Magazine Archive
They had come to the conclusion that it was better to do that than to stay and be "guyed," as they most certainly would be if they refused their tormentors' requests.
From A Cadet's Honor Mark Mallory's Heroism by Upton Sinclair
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
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
At first they paid no attention to him, saying merely, "Quit your guying, kid."
From A Boy Knight by Martin Jerome Scott
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
