guy
guy Lexical Profile
guy Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An informal term for a man, boy, or fellow.
"The new guy in the accounting department is very friendly and helpful."
In the plural, people of either sex or a mixed group, especially when used as an informal form of address.
"What do you guys want to order for dinner tonight?"
A rope, cable, or wire used to guide, steady, or secure something being hoisted or a tall freestanding structure such as a tent, mast, or antenna.
"We tightened each guy on the tent before the evening wind picked up."
British A grotesque effigy of Guy Fawkes dressed in ragged clothes and traditionally burned on a bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night (November 5).
"The neighborhood children built a straw guy to place atop the community bonfire."
• verb
To steady, guide, or secure a mast, tent, or other tall structure using a rope, wire, or cable.
"The crew guyed the radio tower with heavy steel cables to prevent it from swaying in the gale."
To make fun of, ridicule, or tease someone (often in a good-natured or theatrical way).
"The veteran actors gently guyed the nervous newcomer during the dress rehearsal."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'guy' in the singular strictly refers to a male person, the plural 'guys' (as in 'you guys') is widely used in informal English as a gender-neutral term of address for a group of people of any gender.
• Rhymes for guy
Word Origin & Etymology
The human sense derives from Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), the English conspirator executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot, whose grotesque effigies ('guys') were burned on Guy Fawkes Night before the term broadened in 19th-century American English to mean any man. The nautical and structural sense meaning a stabilizing rope comes separately from Old French 'guie' ('a guide').