subs. (colloquial).—1. A Fifth of November effigy; whence (2) an ill-dressed person. As in the old street cry, ‘Hollo, boys, there goes another GUY! (an abbreviation of Guy Fawkes) = a figure of fun; a fright.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.—Caution; Captain Queer-nabs; chivey; comic bird; ragamuffin; sight.
FRENCH SYNONYMS. Un paquet (popular), une hallebarde (popular = a clothes-prop; un nippe-mal (popular); unt bécasse (= a gaby); un carnavale (popular = a figure of fun).
1806. W. BURRELL, in C. K. SHARPE’S Correspondence (1888), i., 277. A month ago there was neither shape nor make in me…. No GUY ever matched me.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Nurse’s Story.’
| Did you see her, in short, that mud-hovel within, | |
| With her knees to her nose, and her nose to her chin, | |
| Leering up with that queer, indescribable grin, | |
| You’d lift up your hands in amazement and cry, | |
| ‘—Well!—I never did see such a regular GUY!’ |
1858. G. ELIOT, Janet’s Repentance, ch. vi. Ned Phipps … whispered that he thought the Bishop was a ‘GUY,’ and I certainly remember thinking that Mr. Prendergast looked much more dignified with his plain white surplice and black hair.
1871. Morning Advertiser, 26 Jan. There is no imperative reason why a constable should be a GUY.
3. (common).—A dark lantern. [Obviously a reminiscence of the Gunpowder Plot].
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. GUY. Stow the GUY: conceal the lanthorn.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
4. (streets’).—A juant; an expedition.
1889. The Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 5, c. 5. There was a gee, there was a buggy, but there wasn’t a punctual Pitcher. So a cheerful GUY to Waterloo was the game.
1889. Detroit Free Press, 26 Jan. His advent here created much merriment, and the operators GUYED him loud enough for him to hear them.
2. (common).—To escape; TO HEDGE (q.v.); to run away. Also TO DO A GUY (which also = to give a false name). For synonyms, see AMPUTATE and SKEDADDLE.
1879. J. W. HORSLEY, ‘Autobiography of a Thief,’ in Macmillan’s Magazine, XL., 500. I planned with another boy to GUY (run away).
1887. Fun, 23 March, p. 125. ‘Boat-race Day, as per usual,’ said the clerk to the court, ‘they’ll all be DOING GUYS’ (giving false names!).
1889. C. T. CLARKSON and J. HALL RICHARDSON, Police! p. 321. To run away … DO A GUY.
1892. Punch, 24 Sept. ‘’Arry at Arrygate.’ I just DID A GUY.
3. (American).—To spoil; to muddle; to disfigure or distort.
1891. New York Herald, 31 May, p. 12, c. 4. Finally, I would remind them that they are apt to GUY their cause by making ‘guys’ of themselves, and that the best way of making women a power in the land is by encouraging them to be womanly women.
4. (theatrical).—To damn; to hiss; TO SLATE (q.v.) or GIVE THE BIRD (q.v.).
