guy

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Noun 1.2.1.1 Translations 1.2.2 Verb 1.2.2.1 Translations 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Noun 1.3.1.1 Usage notes 1.3.1.2 Synonyms 1.3.1.3 Antonyms 1.3.1.4 Translations 1.3.2 Verb

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• enPR: gī, IPA: /gaɪ/, SAMPA: /gaI/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -aɪ

[edit] Etymology 1

Probably of Low German origin; compare Dutch gei ‘brail’, German Geitau ‘clew-line’.

[edit] Noun

guy (plural guys)

1. A support cable used to guide, steady or secure something.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to guy (third-person singular simple present guys, present participle guying, simple past and past participle guyed)

1. To equip with a guy.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

Named from Guy Fawkes (1570-1606), an English Catholic hanged for his role in the Gunpowder Plot.

[edit] Noun

guy (plural guys)

1. (British) An effigy of a man burned on a bonfire on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (5th November).
2. (colloquial) A male

   A new guy started at the office today.

   Jane considers that guy to be very good looking.

[edit] Usage notes

• In plural, guys is not completely gender-neutral but it may refer to people of either sex in some circumstances and forms.
• Hey guys can generally refer to either gender, as a greeting in its plural form.
• But this usage is not always seen as accurate or correct. Describing a group of women as guys, as in the Pussycat Dolls are a bunch of guys, suggests they are male in that usage and is generally viewed as incorrect or inaccurate. In contrast, the band Green Day could accurately be described as a bunch of guys in slang.
• The usage of the plural guys in the phrase some guys chased them away would generally be assumed to mean men rather than women.
• It seems the plural guys, like the singular, mainly refers to men or the male gender, with some exceptions.
• In US English you guys attempts to revive the distinction between a singular and plural you to avoid confusion between the two uses.

[edit] Synonyms

• (US) (man): dude, fella, homey
• (British) (man): bloke, geezer, cove, fellow, chap
• See also Wikisaurus:man

[edit] Antonyms

• (man): gal

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to guy (third-person singular simple present guys, present participle guying, simple past and past participle guyed)

1. (intransitive) To exhibit an effigy of Guy Fawkes around the 5th November.
2. (transitive) To make fun of, to ridicule with wit or innuendo.

   • 2003: Swift and other satirists mercilessly guyed the unlettered self-importance of the peddlars of such soul-food, exposing their humility and self-laceration as an egregious and obnoxious form of self-advertisement (s'excuser, c'est s'accuser). — Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason (Penguin 2004, p. 278)