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:
In his video interview, Zitouni said he saw a crowd of people come through the train shouting "there's a guy with a knife", to which he said "a guy with a knife, are you sure?"
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Now the same guy comes in with pictures of our menu and the menu board and insists we can’t use the name Jewish cheesesteak.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
The executives from Cheerios were like, ‘All right, we can’t use this guy.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
We’re hooting and hollering because Texas is now represented in the Senate by a guy who sounds like Mr. Burns when he gets too many medical treatments and keeps offering everyone his love.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
The guy next to him says, “I’m not even gonna walk. I’m gonna do that James Brown slide, right on in.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Lorre purchased the six-bedroom, eight-bathroom property from architect Mark Rios and reproductive endocrinologist Guy Ringler, who gave the Regency-style home a significant makeover that was featured in Architectural Digest.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
Clint Henderson, managing editor for the rewards-card review site the Points Guy, earlier this year wanted to open a 28th credit card, and his ninth with Chase.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
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
Ray Winstone, recently seen in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen, as well as star of The Departed and Sexy Beast, was spotted in Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, filming the six-part action-comedy Danger Money.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
For the last few weeks, she had been feeling as though Guy was lost to her each time he reached this point, twelve feet away from the balloon.
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
GUY HUNT|Alabama Left office in 1993 after he was found guilty of converting $200,000 to personal use from a nonprofit fund set up for his inauguration.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2017
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
Kobe Bryant: Has a profile but it was definitely written by a fan: The phrase "GUY CODE" is used.
From Time ● Jul. 11, 2011
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
The tubes were guyed to earth at each end and inflated; they rose in arches.
From Time Magazine Archive
Old folkies will spot the genres being guyed.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Say, if we don’t want to be guyed for the rest of the trip, we’ve got to beat it from here now, ’fore anybody spots us, and get our breakfast up the shore some place.”
From Boy Scouts in Glacier Park The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies by Walter Prichard Eaton
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
Then it seemed as if Peter had been unable to forego the delight of having her with him; but now it appeared that he could absently sit there hugging his knees and guying the occasion.
From Rose MacLeod by Alice Brown
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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.
