called also guyline
Did you know?
In England, November 5—Guy Fawkes Day—is celebrated by setting off fireworks and lighting bonfires. Human likenesses made of tattered clothes stuffed with hay or rags are burned on the bonfires. The day is named after a 17thcentury man, Guy Fawkes, who led a plot to blow up the British Parliament buildings. Fawkes managed to hide 20 barrels of gunpowder in the cellars of the buildings. However, the plot was discovered before he could carry out his plans. He was seized and later put to death. The human likenesses burned on the fires came to be called guys. The verb guy “to ridicule” is derived from this story also. The use of the word was extended to similar figures and then to a person of strange appearance or dress. In the US, the word came to mean simply “man” and in time “a person of either sex.”
Synonyms
Examples of guy in a Sentence
Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 23 Apr. 2024
Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry is a cunning coverage guy, able to keep step with receivers and make good plays on the ball.
—Adam Grosbard, Orange County Register, 23 Apr. 2024
Just the nice guy who Californians cheered and celebrated on the ballfield.
—David Lightman, Sacramento Bee, 23 Apr. 2024
There’s a million other young guys that are waiting to take your spot.
—Alicia Rancilio, Twin Cities, 23 Apr. 2024
The ladies’ jackets bore their guys' names and numbers.
—Catherine Santino, Peoplemag, 22 Apr. 2024
And this ability to listen in on the bad guys' communications is extraordinarily powerful.
—CBS News, 21 Apr. 2024
What made Johnson become the steadfast guy on this?
—ABC News, 21 Apr. 2024
Tough guys with a soft side have long held a firm grip on the American imagination.
—Naveen Kumar, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024
Zachary B. Wolf, CNN, 1 Sep. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'guy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near guy
Cite this Entry
“Guy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guy. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
guy
1 of 3 nounguy
2 of 3 verbguy
3 of 3 nounNoun
probably from Dutch gei "a rope used to control a sail"
Noun
named for Guy Fawkes 1570–1606 English criminal
Share