DEFINITIONadjective ( drier, driest )1 free from moisture or liquid; not wet or moist: the jacket kept me warm and dry | he wiped the table dry with his shirt.• (of paint, ink, etc.) having lost all wetness or moisture over a period of time: wait until the paint is dry.• for use without liquid: the conversion of dry latrines into the flushing type.• with little or no rainfall or humidity: the West Coast has had two dry winters in a row.• (of a river, lake, or stream) empty of water as a result of lack of rainfall: the river is always dry at this time of year.• (of a source) not yielding a supply of water or oil: a dry well.• thirsty or thirst-making: working in the hot sun is making me dry.• (of a cow or other domestic animal) no longer producing milk.• without grease or other moisturizer or lubricator: cream conditioners for dry hair.• (of bread or toast) without butter or other spreads: only dry bread and water.2 (of information, writing, etc.) dully factual: the dry facts of the matter.• unemotional, undemonstrative, or impassive: it transformed him from a dry administrator into the people's hero.3 (of a joke or sense of humour) subtle and expressed in a matter-of-fact way: he delighted his friends with a dry, covert sense of humour.4 prohibiting the sale or consumption of alcoholic drink: the country is strictly dry, in accordance with Islamic law.• (of a person) no longer addicted to or drinking alcohol: I heard much talk about how sobriety was more than staying straight or dry.5 (of an alcoholic drink) not sweet: a dry, medium-bodied red wine.6 Brit.relating to political ‘dries’ sense 3 of the noun; rigidly monetarist.
verb ( dries, drying, dried ) [ no obj. ]1 become dry: waiting for the paint to dry | do not let the soil dry out | pools are left as the rivers dry up .• [ with obj. ] cause to become dry: they had washed and dried their hair.• [ with obj. ] wipe tears from (the eyes): she dried her eyes and blew her nose.• (also Brit.dry up) wipe dishes dry with a cloth after they have been washed.• [ with obj. ] (usu. as adj.dried) preserve by allowing or encouraging evaporation of moisture from: dried flowers.2 theatrical slang forget one's lines: a colleague of mine once dried in the middle of a scene.
noun ( pl. dries or drys )1 the process or an instance of drying.2 (the dry) a dry or covered place.• chiefly Austral.the dry season: the grass was yellowing and the dry had started.• Austral.a tract of waterless country: the forty-mile dry.3 (usu. dries) Brit.a Conservative politician (especially in the 1980s) in favour of strict monetarist policies.4 USa person in favour of the prohibition of alcohol.
PHRASEScome up dry N. Amer.be unsuccessful: experiments have so far come up dry.( as ) dry as a bone extremely dry.( as ) dry as dust extremely dry. • extremely dull; lacking emotion, expression, or interest: what the students learned was as dry as dust.there wasn't a dry eye ( in the house )(with reference to a play, film, or similar event) everyone in the audience was moved to tears.
PHRASAL VERBSdry an animal off cease milking and reduce the rations of a cow or other animal so that it stops producing milk.dry out informal overcome alcoholism: he intends to dry out and get his life back together again.dry up 1 informal cease talking: then he dried up, and Phil couldn't get another word out of him. 2 (of something perceived as a continuous flow or source) decrease and stop: his commissions began to dry up.
DERIVATIVESdryish adjective,dryness noun
ORIGIN Old English drȳge (adjective), drȳgan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Middle Low Germandröge,Dutch droog, and German trocken .
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