guide

Pluralguides

Formsguides, guiding, guided

1. 1
   handbooknouncountable

   A book or document that offers information or instruction; a guidebook.

   I bought a guide to the museum's collection at the front desk.

   Their travel guide listed the cheapest places to eat in the city.

   UsageUsually a guide to a place or subject: a guide to Rome, a guide to saving money.

   Similarhandbook, manual

2. 2
   tour leadernouncountable

   A person, often hired, who shows others around a place or institution and explains things, or leads them through dangerous terrain.

   The guide explained the history behind each painting in the gallery.

   Their guide roped the climbers together before crossing the glacier.

   Similardocent, leader, escort

   Note

   At its root, a guide is one who knows the way. English took the noun from Old French in the fourteenth century. It reached French from Old Occitan, and before that from a Frankish verb meaning "to show the way, lead". Further back, the root meant "to see, know". The King James Bible of 1611 already uses the word for a trusted leader as much as a pathfinder: "He will be our guide, even unto death." Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The English noun was borrowed from Old French in the fourteenth century. en.wiktionary.org
   • The Old French noun came from Old Occitan. en.wiktionary.org
   • The etymological chain includes a Frankish verb meaning 'to show the way, lead'. en.wiktionary.org
   • The remote root concerns seeing and knowing; the opening sentence paraphrases this connection. en.wiktionary.org
   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikisource.org
   • Psalm 48:14 contains the quoted words, referring to God as a guide; the item modernizes spelling and punctuation. en.wikisource.org
3. 3
   influenceverbtransitive

   To shape the actions or direction of someone or something through control or influence.

   A few powerful donors quietly guide the organization's agenda.

   Market forces guided the company toward cheaper materials.

   Similardirect, shape, influence, control, drive

   Note

   Here no one is being led along a path; the object is a course of action or a body of affairs. The King James Bible of 1611 describes a good man who "will guide his affaires with discretion," meaning he runs his own business wisely. In modern use the guiding is often influence rather than direct control: values guide a decision, and donors guide an agenda.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To lead or show someone the way along a route or through a place, often as one's job.

   The ranger guided the group safely back to the trailhead.

   A local fisherman offered to guide us through the maze of channels to the sea.

   UsageUsually guide someone to a place, or through a place or a process: guide us to our seats, guide a student through an application.

   Note

   The verb came into English by its own route: Middle English guiden, from Old French guider. It was not formed from the noun, though both share the Frankish ancestry told under the person who leads. Its basic pattern is guide someone to a place, as in Shakespeare's "guide me to your Soueraignes Court."

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To steer or navigate something, especially a ship or aircraft, along its course.

   She guided the tanker past the shoals at low tide.

   Harbor pilots guide arriving ships to their berths.

   Similarsteer, navigate, pilot, maneuver

6. 6
   supervise trainingverbtransitive

   To supervise and direct the education or training of someone.

   Senior researchers guide junior colleagues through their first projects.

   The master craftsman guided each apprentice for several years.

   Similarsupervise, train, coach, tutor

7. 7
   machine devicenouncountable

   A device that directs part of a machine as it moves, or that otherwise directs a motion or action.

   Clamp a straight board to the plywood as a guide, then run the circular saw along its edge.

   Worn valve guides let the valves wobble, and before long the engine starts burning oil.

   Note

   In a workshop or an engine, this kind of guide does not drive anything itself. It fixes the path along which something else moves, keeping a saw blade straight or a valve from wobbling. It is often named for what it steers, as in valve guide. The narrower specialist senses, such as the water wheel's blade and the surgeon's grooved director, are particular cases of this general one. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Guides exert contact forces that constrain motion, and real guides also exert frictional forces. sg.misumi-ec.com
   • A mechanical guide constrains the path of a moving component. en.wikipedia.org
   • A blade guide can keep a saw blade from deflecting. boschtools.com
   • A valve guide supports and aligns a valve stem. en.wikipedia.org
   • The water-wheel blade and surgical grooved director senses are particular cases of a device that guides motion or action. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   nouncountable

   Anything that helps someone make a judgment, estimate, or decision, or that indicates what is likely to happen.

   Last year's sales figures are only a rough guide to what we can expect this year.

   Investors are warned that past performance is no guide to future returns.

   UsageOften with a word that says how far to trust it, then to: a rough guide to costs, no guide to future returns.

   Similarindicator, indication, gauge, measure, yardstick

   Note

   Unlike a guidebook, it need not be written: last year's figures or a past result can serve.

9. 9
   girl scoutnounUKcountablebritish

   A member of the Guides, a girls' organization comparable to the Girl Scouts that teaches outdoor skills and service to others.

   She was a Guide as a girl and can still light a campfire with two matches.

   Two Guides from the local group helped serve tea at the village fete.

   UsageWritten with a capital G: a Guide, the Guides. In the US the usual word is Girl Scout.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    Someone who counsels others and helps them choose how to conduct their lives, how to behave, or how to grow.

    Throughout his early career, the senior partner acted as his guide and mentor.

    Many young athletes look to their coaches as guides in life as well as in sport.

    UsageOften paired with mentor (his guide and mentor), or named by its field: a spiritual guide.

    Similarmentor, adviser, counselor, guru

    Note

    The word goes back to a Frankish verb meaning to show the way, from a root meaning to see or know, and this sense keeps both halves: a guide in life is someone who knows the way and shows it.

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