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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A rope, cord, or cable used to steady, guide, or secure something.
  2. v. To steady, guide, or secure with a rope, cord, or cable.
  3. n. Informal A man; a fellow.
  4. n. Informal Persons of either sex.
  5. n. Chiefly British A person of odd or grotesque appearance or dress.
  6. n. An effigy of Guy Fawkes paraded through the streets of English towns and burned on Guy Fawkes Day.
  7. v. To hold up to ridicule; mock.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To guide.
  2. In nautical and mechanical use, to keep in place, steady, or direct by means of a guy.
  3. n. A rope or other appliance used to steady something. Especially— A rope attached to an object which is being hoisted or lowered, to steady it.
  4. n. A grotesque effigy intended to represent Guy Fawkes, the chief conspirator in the gunpowder plot. Such an effigy was formerly burned annually in England, on the 5th of November, the anniversary of the discovery of the gunpowder plot. See gunpowder plot, under gunpowder.
  5. n. Hence A person grotesque in dress, looks, or manners; a dowdy; a “fright.”
  6. To treat as a guy; jeer at or make fun of; ridicule.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A support cable used to guide, steady or secure something.
  2. n. An effigy of a man burned on a bonfire on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (5th November).
  3. n. A male
  4. n. people
  5. n. thing, creature
  6. n. thing, unit
  7. v. To equip with a support cable.
  8. v. To exhibit an effigy of Guy Fawkes around the 5th November.
  9. v. To make fun of, to ridicule with wit or innuendo.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A rope, chain, or rod attached to anything to steady it; as: a rope to steady or guide an object which is being hoisted or lowered; a rope which holds in place the end of a boom, spar, or yard in a ship; a chain or wire rope connecting a suspension bridge with the land on either side to prevent lateral swaying; a rod or rope attached to the top of a structure, as of a derrick, and extending obliquely to the ground, where it is fastened.
  2. v. To steady or guide with a guy.
  3. n. A grotesque effigy, like that of Guy Fawkes, dressed up in England on the fifth of November, the day of the Gunpowder Plot.
  4. n. A person of queer looks or dress.
  5. n. A man or young man; a fellow; -- usually contrasted with gals or girls .
  6. n. A member of a group of either sex, usually a friend or comrade; -- usually used in the pl..
  7. v. To fool; to baffle; to make (a person) an object of ridicule.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an informal term for a youth or man
  2. v. subject to laughter or ridicule
  3. v. steady or support with a guy wire or cable
  4. n. an effigy of Guy Fawkes that is burned on a bonfire on Guy Fawkes Day
  5. n. a cable, wire, or rope that is used to brace something (especially a tent)

Etymologies

  1. Partly from Middle English gie, guide, guy (from Old French guie, from guier, to guide; see weid- in Indo-European roots) and partly from Low German; akin to Dutch gei, brail.After Guy Fawkes.

Examples

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‘guy’ has been looked up 2304 times, added to 25 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 7.