▪ I. guy, n.1
(gaɪ)
Forms: 4–5 gye, 5, 9 Sc. gy, 6 Sc. guye, 7 guie, 7– guy.
[a. OF. gui-s (obj. case guion), also guie = Pr., Sp., Pg. guia, It. guida (see guide n.); the two Rom. types *guido(n and *guida (etymologically fem., but masc. as a designation of men) are verbal ns. f. guidare: see guide v.]
† 1. A guide; a conductor or leader. Obs. rare.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 2727 Þan hiȝed þei hem to þe hauen..as þe werwolf hem wissed þat was al here gye. Ibid. 2849 Þe herte & þe hinde þere þanne hem hed sone, as þe werwolf hem wissed þat ay was here gye. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 684 Bath Forth and Tay thai left and passyt by On the north cost, [gud] Guthrie was thar gy. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxviii. 53 London..Thy famous Maire..is exampler, loode-ster, and guye. |
2. a. Chiefly Naut. A rope used to guide and steady a thing which is being hoisted or lowered; also, a rope, chain, rod, etc. to secure or steady anything liable to shift its position or to be carried away, as the mast, funnel, etc. of a vessel, a derrick, a suspension-bridge, etc.
lazy guy, ‘a small tackle or rope to prevent the spanker-boom from swaying about in fine weather’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867). travelling guy (see quot. 1846).
| 1623 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Hemp-seed 10 Shrowds, ratlings, lanyards, tackles, lifts, and guies. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Sea-men 16 Sheeps feet is..a guie in staying the tackles when they are charged with goods. 1627 ― Seaman's Gram. v. 20 A Guy..is a rope brought to it from the foremast, to keepe the weight vpon it steady. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuilder's Assist. 113 The Guy of the winding Tackle. 1755 Phil. Trans. XLIX. 352 His Majesty's ship the Gosport was..well-stay'd by guys and hawsers. 1816 Scott Antiq. viii, The experienced seaman had let down with the chair another line, which, being attached to it, and held by the persons beneath, might serve by way of gy. 1846 Young Naut. Dict. s.v., There are sometimes also guys attached to the jib-traveller, which get the name of travelling guys. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland 105 Drive the [tent-] pegs home and stretch the guys. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. v. (ed. 2) 173 A broken oar is driven into the sand, and supported by guys of spun yarn. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 207 If the wind is light, get a lazy guy on the spanker boom. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 24 Nov. 9/1 About six o'clock the funnel guy was carried away. |
b. Naut. slang. Phrase to clap a guy on: to put a stop to; to ‘stow’.
| 1814 Sailors' Return ii. vi, I..request you will join us at dinner, if you'll only clap a guy on your low lingo. |
3. attrib. and Comb. (in sense 2), as guy-chain, guy-crane, guy-line, guy-peg, guy-rope, guy-tackle; also guy rein, a guiding or leading rein; guy-rod, a rod used in place of a guy-rope.
| 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §254 note, The shears were kept upright, and were managed, by two strong guy (or guide) ropes. 1861 Man. Artil. Exerc. 175 As soon as the centre of each tent is marked by a peg, 4 guy pegs are driven to the front, rear, right and left. 1866 T. Seaton Cadet to Colonel I. 19 From a strong ring in the deck, near the head of the boat, ran a guy rope. 1869 Daily News 12 June, A gentleman leading a beautiful child by a guy rein. He is mounted on a superb bay, his little companion on a cream-coloured pony. 1879 Man. Artil. Exerc. 640 For guy tackles likely to be wetted with salt water tarred cordage should be used. 1879 R. S. Ball in Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 208 In a crane which is often used for quarrying and other rough purposes, and which is sometimes called a guy crane, there are two stays. 1903 A. Adams Log of Cowboy x. 152 We took a guy line from the wagon and snubbed it to a tree. 1903 Electr. World & Engin. 31 Oct. 711 (Cent. D. Suppl.), Guy-rods are 8 ft. × 5/8 in., provided with an eye at one end. 1910 N. Hawkins Electr. Dict., Guy Rod Bands, bands by which a guy rod is attached to a telegraph pole. 1928 Daily Express 7 Apr. 5/5 Drive in the remaining pegs and attach and true up the remaining guylines. |
▪ II. guy, n.2
(gaɪ)
Pl. guys.
1. a. An effigy of Guy Fawkes traditionally burnt on the evening of November the Fifth, usu. with a display of fireworks. Also in full Guy Fawkes.
Guys were formerly paraded about in the streets on the anniversary of the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ (Nov. 5). They are now more frequently exhibited by children collecting money for fireworks during the days preceding Nov. 5.
The figure is habited in grotesquely ragged and ill-assorted garments (whence sense 2), and was formerly accompanied by other similar effigies (representing unpopular persons), to which the name of ‘guys’ is often given by extension.
| 1806 W. Burrell in Lett. C. K. Sharpe (1888) I. 277 A month ago there was neither shape nor make in me... No guy ever matched me. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1430 Formerly an old cocked hat was the reigning fashion for a ‘Guy’. 1861 C. M. Yonge Young Step-Mother xxix. 442 ‘There's Guy Fawkes,’ cried Albinia, as a procession of scare-crows were borne on chairs amid thunders of acclamation. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lx. 175 What are you doing there, dressed up in that way like a guy? 1868 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xxi, Once on a fifth of November I found a ‘Guy’ trusted to take care of himself there, while his proprietors had gone to dinner. 1968 Listener 7 Nov. 606 I'm afraid Simon is rather burnt. It was so dark some of the children thought he was the guy. 1970 R. Garrett Run Down iv. 95 It was the first Saturday of November. There were dozens of Guy Fawkes of varying merit lined along each street. |
b. Guy Fawkes day (Guy Fawkes night), 5 Nov., the anniversary of the ‘Gunpowder plot’. Also ellipt.
| 1825 W. Hone Every-day Bk. 1430/2 ‘Guy Fawkes-day’, or, as they as often call it, ‘Pope-day’, is a holiday, and.., on account of its festivous enjoyment, is the greatest holiday of the season. 1833 J. Romilly Diary 5 Nov. (1967) i. 41 Webb (the W. merchant's) long dull son dined in hall with me being Guy Fawkes day. 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. i. iv. 63 Suddenly he heard the cry, ‘Remember, remember the Fifth of November..,’ and, almost before he had time to realize it was the dreaded Guy Fawkes, a band of..boys..held close to the window a nodding Guy. 1970 Times 4 Nov. 2/2 The reserves of stamina the [fire]men have to build up for Guy Fawkes night each year. |
2. A person of grotesque appearance, esp. with reference to dress; a ‘fright’.
| 1836 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 9 The gentlemen are all ‘rigged Tropical’,..grisly Guys some of them turn out! 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxvi. (1889) 246 He was such an old guy in his dress. 1880 Daily Tel. 15 Oct., We have far too many sculptured ‘Guys’ in the metropolis. 1893 Vizetelly Glances back I. ii. 33 Little boys..were dressed up to look the greatest of guys. |
| attrib. 1875 R. F. Burton Gorilla L. II. 145 He appeared habited in the usual guy style: a gaudy fancy helmet [etc.]. |
3. slang. a. A dark lantern. ? Obs.
| 1811 Lex. Balatronicum s.v., Stow the guy: conceal the lanthorn. |
b. An act of decamping or running off ‘on the sly’. to give the guy to: to run away from, ‘give the slip to’. Also to do a guy.
| 1889 Sporting Times 3 Aug. 5/5 (Farmer) A cheerful guy to Waterloo was the game. 1897 [see guy v.4]. 1898 Daily News 8 Sept. 2/3 ‘He's done a guy’... The Coroner—Done a what? Witness—Done a guy; ‘bunked’. 1899 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 378/1 Don't think to give us the guy. 1925 N. Venner Imperfect Impostor xiii. 221 He's just picked me up out of the road with a sprained ankle, or very near it, bandaged me up like a medical student, and brought me home. Then he wants to do a guy at the front door. 1954 N. Balchin Last Recoll. Uncle Charles iii. 43 It was..not so very surprising that he should ‘do a guy’, as they put it locally, with his employers' money. |
c. (See quot.)
| 1835 Tait's Mag. II. 451 These crimps are Jews; there are a few Christians who profess the same commercial faith, and they are called guys. These crimps and guys prey like sharks on the unfortunate sailors. |
d. A man, fellow. orig. U.S.
The earliest examples may be influenced by sense 2.
| 1847 Swell's Night Guide 41, I can't tonight, for I am going to be seduced by a rich old Guy. 1863 C. Reade Hard Cash III. xiii. 270, I wouldn't speak to you in the street for fear of disgracing you; I am such a poor little guy to be addressing a gentleman like you. 1876 L. C. Barraud 15 Oct. in E. M. Barraud Story of Family (1967) xi. 133 The little children are such cures, and the nurses seem to go out with the master and mistress. The little boys look great guys. 1896 Ade Artie i. 3 You guys must think I'm a quitter. 1898 Milwaukee Sentinel 22 Jan. 4/7, I s'pose you got a Bible you'll let a guy look into. 1904 Cincinnati Commercial Tribune 29 June 4 Mr. Bryan is a hefty guy when it comes to Democratic conventions and the platforms thereof. 1928 D. H. Lawrence in T.P.'s & Cassell's Weekly 7 July 333/3, I say to Mother: Show me somebody happy, then! And she shows me some guy, or some bright young thing, and gets mad when I say: See the pretty monkey! 1931 R. Campbell Georgiad i. 16 These are the guys that find the world forlorn And wish (correctly) they had not been born. 1931 D. Runyon (title) Guys and Dolls. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost xi. 114 The literary guys are taking public matters more seriously. 1951 Auden Nones (1952) 62 Thou shalt not be on friendly terms With guys in advertising firms. 1966 Wodehouse Plum Pie i. 32 All the other places..had been full of guys and dolls standing bumper to bumper. |
Hence ˈguydom, the state of being a guy.
| 1882 A. Beresford-Hope Brandreths I. i. 3 He could not deny a woman's right to refuse to make a guy of herself, as she understood guydom. |
▪ III. † guy, v.1 Obs.
Forms: 4–5 gye, guye, 4 gie, 4–5 guie, 4–6 gy, (5 Sc. ghy), 4–7 guy.
[a. OF. guie-r (superseded in later Fr. by guider: see guide) = Pr., Sp., It. guiar, It. guidare; prob. of Teut. origin, from some form of the root of Goth. and OE. witan to know (see wit v.); cf. Goth. fairweitjan to spy.]
1. trans. To conduct or lead on the way; = guide v. 1; to direct the course of (a vehicle, an instrument, etc.).
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 162 Gyle was for-goere and gyede hem alle. c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 6 (Harl.) Yow fiers god of armes..Be present and my song contynne and guy. c 1384 ― H. Fame ii. 435 (Fairf.) Whan..Pheton wolde lede Algate hys Fader carte, and gye. 14.. Hoccleve Ad Beatam Virg. 49 Vn-to my soules helthe thow me gye! 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 37 He gan hym forth hye Up on his jurne fully trostyng That the grace of god shuld hym riht gye. c 1470 Harding Chron. cxxxviii. ix, Two hundred he kept, that ship to guie To Acres. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 1881 Gydis thai chessyt, fra strenthis thaim to ghy. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. Prol. 18 Thyne is the cure my wofull pen to gy. 1600 Fairfax Tasso x. ix, A writhen staffe his steps vnstable guies. |
| absol. c 1440 Generydes 2049 The formest warde All redy for to gye The kyng of Turkey had in gouernance. |
2. To command (an army, etc.); to govern, rule (a country); to administer, manage (affairs, an office). Cf. guide v. 3, 4.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 92 Eustace of Ferers þat oste suld guye. c 1400 Rowland & O. 254 We will oure batells guy, And rape vs for to ryde Agayne þ⊇ Emperour. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4842 A kyng..moot don his diligence His peple for to gye by prudence. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 5 Deocclivius, Al the londe hadde to gye. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems viii. 6 Thy men of weir to governe and to gy. 1600 Fairfax Tasso i. lxiii, This band late heards and flocks that guied. |
3. To control or direct (a person or his actions); = guide v. 2. (Said of persons; also of immaterial things.)
| 13.. Sir Beues 364 (MS. A), I schel þe sende..a riche erl, þat schel þe gie And teche þe of corteisie In þe ȝouþe. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1928 An Iuppiter so wys my soule gye To speken of a seruant proprely. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1335 Mesure is good; let hir þe gye and lede. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 138 Guy al thy thoghtis al tyme to do well. a 1510 Douglas K. Hart i. 20 Nature had lymmit folk, for thair rewarde, This gudlie king to governe and to gy. |
b. refl. To conduct or rule (oneself). Cf. guide v. 2 c.
| c 1325 Song of Yesterday 35 in E.E.P. (1862) 134 A syker ground who wol him gy I rede he þenke on ȝusterday. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1610 How schulle we now ous selue gye now ous lackeþ our hed? 1410 Hoccleve Ball. to H. Somer 34 Paie your lagh as dooth an othir wight, Þat by mesure rulith him, and gyeth. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. xii. (1544) 24 He yaue them lawes wherby they should them gye. |
▪ IV. guy, v.2
(gaɪ)
[f. guy n.1 (sense 2).]
trans. To fasten or secure with a guy or with guys. Also with down, out, up, etc. Chiefly Naut. Also transf.
| 1712 W. Rogers Voy. App. 18 You must anchor near the Shore, and an Hawser on Shore to guy your Ship. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii. 70 The swinging booms were then guyed out. 1861 Morn. Chron. 20 Aug. (Crystal Palace Co. Advt.), It is essential the rope [of M. Blondin] should be well strained and guyed. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 71 It is..necessary to guy it down by a rope. 1886 T. Hardy Mayor Casterbr. II. xvi. 224 Settles..guyed to the ceiling..by cords..for stability. 1888 Harper's Mag. Apr. 711 As the Japanese have no bridge on the nose worth speaking of, the ponderous optical helps must be guyed in by cables of twine slung round the ears. |
▪ V. guy, v.3
(gaɪ)
[f. guy n.2]
1. a. intr. To carry an effigy of Guy Fawkes about the streets on Guy Fawkes' day. b. trans. To exhibit (a person) in effigy.
| 1851–61 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 72, I always used to spend the money I got guying on myself. 1894 Daily Tel. 6 Nov. 5/3 The cavalcade gave the organisers the opportunity of ‘guying’ various faddists. |
2. trans. (Originally Theatrical slang.) To make an object of ridicule or derisive wit, to ridicule by innuendo; to trifle with a theatrical part. Also to guy at.
| 1854 A. C. Mowatt Autobiogr. Actress xv. 227 Good gracious! the audience will guy you!.. ‘Guy me? What do you mean by guy?’.. ‘Why, laugh at you, to be sure—and chaff you!’ 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. xxvi. 203 The Roman street-boy who..guyed the gladiators from the dizzy gallery. 1885 J. K. Jerome On the Stage 151, I particularly remember..being ‘guyed’ on one occasion... The stage manager insisted on my wearing a most outrageous costume. I knew it would be laughed at. 1890 Lit. World 11 July 20 Mr. Burnand does not set himself to guy the book. 1890 Doyle Sign of Four vii. (ed. 3) 116 I'm guyed at by the children. 1890 J. Jefferson Autobiogr. 219 With all this at stake, some wanton actor deliberately ‘guys’ his part and overturns the patient care of his comrade. 1893 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 384/2 She and Edith Merry had been studying Anglo-Saxon together, and he had guyed them both about it, calling them blue-stockings. 1895 W. Archer Theatr. World of 1894 xliii. 287 Larking and guying on the stage are my abhorrence. 1898 J. Hollingshead Gaiety Chron. x. 414 The actors, I am bound to say, treated this curious fossil of dramatic protection with more than proper respect, and did not ‘guy’ the parts allotted to them. 1906 Daily Chron. 31 Oct. 5/5 We must make an end of that disgusting blunder of guying them [sc. arrested suffragettes] up in hideous prison uniforms. 1963 Times 27 May 8/2 Francoise Sagan, British phlegmatism and many other picturesque aspects of contemporary life in the 1960s are gently but tellingly guyed by Mr. Kohout. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 328 Vociferous women are guyed in the press. |
Hence ˈguying vbl. n.
| 1885 J. K. Jerome On the Stage 152 ‘Guying’ is..indulged in only by the silliest portion of the audience. |
▪ VI. guy, v.4 slang.
(gaɪ)
[f. guy n.2 (sense 3 b).]
intr. To go off, run away. Also with off.
| 1879 J. W. Horsley in Macm. Mag. XL. 500/2, I planned with another boy to guy (run away). 1897 Daily News 7 June 3/5 Prisoner..‘done a guy’... He did what? Witness—He ‘guyed’ off. 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xxvi. 263 Jack, guy for your b― life. The Squad are here and they're pinching everybody. 1963 Times 15 Feb. 4/7 Hurry up, I have had to do a chap, we will have to guy out of here. |