dude

[dood, dyood] /dud, dyud/
noun
1.
a man excessively concerned with his clothes, grooming, and manners.
2.
Slang.
  1. a fellow; chap.
  2. (a general term of address used to a man, woman, or group).
3.
a person reared in a large city.
4.
Western U.S. an urban Easterner who vacations on a ranch.
interjection
5.
(an expression of shock, approval, sympathy, or other strong feeling):
Dude! That's one expensive sandwich!
Verb phrases, past and past participle duded up, present participle duding up.
6.
dude up, Informal. to dress in one's fanciest, best, or most stylish clothes; dress up:
He got all duded up to go to the dance.
Origin
1880-85, Americanism; origin uncertain
Examples from the web for dude
  • For every generation, there is a dude.
  • The wine connoisseur, showman, and everyday dude readies a new book.
  • No doubt about it dude.
  • Wow, no doubt about it dude.
  • Nine lives wouldn't be nearly enough for this dude.
  • dude because the cost of a humanities graduate degree is simply out of reasonable proportion to benefit.
  • Had no problem lifting that beer to his lips or wrestling around with another dude.
  • Instead of throwing free money, the dude danced a twist step which disappoints all the investors.
  • dude, that's what is going to be our help in the near future.
  • And if that's not disturbing enough for ya, the leech with teeth was actually discovered up some dude's nose.
British Dictionary definitions for dude

dude

/duːd; djuːd/
noun (informal)
1.
(Western US & Canadian) a city dweller, esp one holidaying on a ranch
2.
(mainly US & Canadian) a dandy
3.
(US & Canadian) a person: often used to any male in direct address
Derived Forms
dudish, adjective
dudishly, adverb
Word Origin
C19: of unknown origin
Word Origin and History for dude
n.

1883, "fastidious man," New York City slang of unknown origin. The vogue word of 1883, originally used in reference to the devotees of the "aesthetic" craze, later applied to city slickers, especially Easterners vacationing in the West (e.g. dude ranch, first recorded 1921).

Now, "tenderfoot" is not to be construed as the Western equivalent of that much evolved and more abused specimen of mankind, familiarly styled "dude." For even the Montana cowboy recognizes the latter. Not that he has ever seen the true prototype of a class that was erstwhile so numerous among us. But he is convinced that a person caught in the act of wearing a white linen collar, and who looks as though he might have recently shaved or washed his face, must be a dude, true and proper. ["Random Notes and Observations of a Trip through the Great Northwest," "The Medical Record," Oct. 20, 1883]
Application to any male is recorded by 1966, U.S., originally in Black English.

Slang definitions & phrases for dude

dude

noun
  1. A dapper man, esp one who is ostentatiously dressed; dandy •In earliest use, to quote an 1891 source, a dude was ''not a dandy; there is nothing gallant or dashing about him. He is soberness itself; he is as respectable as an undertaker. Yet your real dude is irresistibly comic'' (1883+)
  2. A guest at a Western or Western-style ranch (1883+)
  3. A man; fellow; cat, guy: I'm sittin' in the bus stop, just me an' these other three dudes (1918+)

[origin unknown; perhaps an invented word]