GUY, noun gi. In marine affairs, a rope used to keep a heavy body steady while hoisting or lowering; also, a tackle to confine a boom forwards, when a vessel is going large, and to prevent the sail from gybing. guy is also a large slack rope, extending from the head of the main-mast to that of the fore-mast, to sustain a tackle for loading or unloading.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI