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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Graham's Top 50 Words, in terms of relevance
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Christie's Top 50 Most Relevant Words
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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:
I met a guy two months ago and I really like him.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
But our guide is just a regular guy, which lends to the charm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Of her boss, party leader Sir Ed, she said: "He's not just nice guy Eddie. I think you're going to see him being a bit more gritty because he's a real fighter."
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
This is a guy from football royalty who has shrewdly spent his college career trying to say nothing interesting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
A guy and a girl sit squashed next to each other on its bench, laughing as they bang on it, pretending like they know what they’re doing.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
“It’s like a hen laying on its eggs,” said Burning Glass Institute labor economist Guy Berger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Guy Schooling, chairman of Sworders, described the Faith guitar as the "jewel in the crown" of the collection.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch is "very happy" to see compatriot Guy Pearce play him in a new, largely sympathetic movie about his early business life, the actor said on Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
He is joined by other musicians including Camper Van Beethoven lead singer David Lowery, blues musician Guy Forsyth and saxophonist Eduardo Calle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Guy looked like a refrigerator, but T was talking smack, as usual.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
“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: Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs, who’s tied for fourth in the league with 61 receptions, caught 13 passes in each of the past two games to set an NFL record.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 18, 2016
GUY 1: Get a load of Cuomo, on his Harley.
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
The Volumes now ready are— GUY CARLTON—A Boy who belonged to the “Try Company.”
From Jessie Carlton The Story of a Girl who Fought with Little Impulse, the Wizard, and Conquered Him by Daniel Wise
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
The spindle and hub were attached to a steel barrel frozen into the ice and guyed solidly.
From Time Magazine Archive
The tubes were guyed to earth at each end and inflated; they rose in arches.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were so deeply moved by this whole affair that they bitterly guyed the late appearance of the hook and ladder company, whose heavy apparatus had almost stalled them on the Bridge Street hill.
From The Monster and Other Stories by Stephen Crane
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
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
The trick of "guying" may seem to those on the stage very pretty and highly amusing, but to an audience it is at first surprising, then bewildering, and finally utterly wearisome and disgusting.
From Famous Prima Donnas by Lewis Clinton Strang
Definitions 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.
