dudes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of dude.

   A couple of dudes from the gym helped us carry the couch upstairs.

   The old cowhands grinned as the dudes from the city struggled to saddle their horses.

   Note

   A regular plural that carries every noun use of the singular: young men in casual American and Canadian speech, tourists in slang, and, in archaic use, dandies fussy about their dress. It also works as a way of hailing a crowd (Dudes, slow down!), and in slang it loosens further into a group of any gender.

2. 2
   nounslangcountable

   Any group of people taken together, whatever their gender.

   "Sorry, dudes, the pool closes in ten minutes," the lifeguard called to the moms and kids still in the water.

   My sister and her roommates are really chill dudes, so you'll fit right in.

   Similarguys, folks

   Note

   Slang takes the maleness out of the word here, dropping what the ordinary plural usually implies, so a mother can call her daughters dudes and mean nothing odd by it. It serves both as a way of hailing a whole group (Okay, dudes, bedtime) and as a plain collective noun for them. It belongs to relaxed speech; in formal writing, people or everyone does the job.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of dude.

   Grandpa dudes up in a bolo tie and pressed jeans every Sunday.

   My roommate dudes everyone from the barista to his own professors.

   Note

   Three different verbs share this form: addressing someone as dude (he dudes everyone he meets), taking a vacation at a dude ranch, and dressing in smart or special clothes, which in American use usually takes up (she dudes up for every party). Without up or an object to steer it, the same spelling is more naturally read as the plural noun.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3