dry — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Free from or lacking moisture.

   Examples

   This towel's dry. Could you wet it and cover the chicken so it doesn't go dry as it cooks?

   The weather, […] we […] both agreed, was too dry for the season.

   More examples (4)

   The marjorum stood in ruddy and fragrant masses; harebells and campanulas of several kinds, that are cultivated in our gardens, with bells large and clear; crimson pinks; the Michaelmas daisy; a plant with a thin, radiated yellow flower, of the character of an aster; a centaurea of a light purple, handsomer than any English one; a thistle in the dryest places, resembling an eryngo, with a thick, bushy top; mulleins, yellow and white; the wild mignonnette, and the white convolvulus; and clematis festooning the bushes, recalled the flowery fields and lanes of England, and yet told us that we were not there.

   Not a dry eye was to be seen in the assembly.

   The project poses exceptional challenges, given that Antarctica is the coldest, windiest and driest continent on Earth, as well as the most remote and inaccessible, being almost totally covered by a vast ice sheet.

   It is one of the first towns in the United States to purposely stall growth for want of water in a new era of megadroughts. But it could be a harbinger of things to come in a hotter, drier West. […] Experts say the smallest towns are especially vulnerable. And few places in Utah are as tiny or dry as Echo, a jumble of homes squeezed between a freight railroad and stunning red-rock cliffs.

2. Unable to produce a liquid, as water, (petrochemistry) oil, or (agriculture) milk.

   Examples

   This well is as dry as that cow.

3. Built without or lacking mortar.

   Examples

   [A]lready the gate was blocked with a wall of squared stones laid dry, but very thick and very high, across the opening.

4. Anhydrous: free from or lacking water in any state, regardless of the presence of other liquids.

   Examples

   Dry alcohol is 200 proof.

5. Athirst, eager.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Prospero:[…]Confederates / (ſo drie he was for Sway) with King of Naples / To giue him Annuall tribute, doe him homage / Subiect his Coronet, to his Crowne and bend / The Dukedom yet vnbow'd (alas poore Millaine) / To moſt ignoble ſtooping.

6. Free from or lacking alcohol or alcoholic beverages.

   Examples

   Of course it's a dry house. He was an alcoholic but he's been dry for almost a year now.

   More examples (1)

   Ol. Go too, y'are a dry foole: Ile no more of you: besides you grow dis-honest. Clo. Two faults Madona, that drinke & good counsell wil amend: for giue the dry foole drink, then is the foole not dry[…]

7. Describing an area where sales of alcoholic or strong alcoholic beverages are banned.

   Examples

   You'll have to drive out of this dry county to find any liquor.

8. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness, particularly

   Examples

   These epistles will become less dry, more susceptible of ornament.

9. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Low in sugar; lacking sugar; unsweetened.

   Examples

   Proper martinis are made with London dry gin and dry vermouth.

   Fatima Blush: Oh, how reckless of me. I made you all wet. James Bond: Yes, but my martini is still dry. My name is James.

10. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Amusing without showing amusement.

    Examples

    Steven Wright has a deadpan delivery, Norm Macdonald has a dry sense of humor, and Oscar Wilde had a dry wit.

11. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Lacking interest, boring.

    Antonyms

    liveliving

    Examples

    a dry academic discipline turned into a living subject

    A dry lecture may require the professor to bring a water gun in order to keep the students' attention.

    More examples (3)

    Ol. Go too, y'are a dry foole: Ile no more of you: besides you grow dis-honest. Clo. Two faults Madona, that drinke & good counsell wil amend: for giue the dry foole drink, then is the foole not dry […]

    Mr. Evans naturally does not see things in a dry light. He has the dramatic instinct, and impresses it on all he touches.

    But there we were given only the dullest, driest, pemmicanised forms like The Student's Hume, Once I had a hundred pages of The Student's Hume as a holiday task.

12. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Of a board or flop: Not permitting the creation of many or of strong hands.

    Examples

    Jake was hoping to make something good out of his suited 7-8 hand, but the flop came out dry: 2-5-10 rainbow, and all of the wrong suit!.

13. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Exhibiting precise execution lacking delicate contours or soft transitions of color.

14. Not using afterburners or water injection for increased thrust.

    Examples

    This fighter jet's engine has a maximum dry thrust of 200 kilonewtons.

15. Involving computations rather than work with biological or chemical matter.

    Usage

    • Derogatory

16. Free from applied audio effects (especially reverb).

    Usage

    • of a sound recording

17. Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent.

    Examples

    never dry fire a bow

    dry humping her girlfriend

    More examples (6)

    making a dry run

    dry snitches are as bad as regular snitches

    A loose nocking point is equally dangerous since it may result in what is known as a 'dry release' when the arrow merely falls from a string a few feet away as the bow is shot. This may distort or weaken the bow.

    […] most like "dry firing," or a dry release, wherein the string meets no resistance.

    When you shoot a bow, the arrow absorbs a high percentage of the energy released by the limbs. If you dry fire a bow (shoot it with no arrow on the string), the bow itself absorbs all the energy, […]

    Because some recipes require specific techniques such as high-intensity dry heating (heating while the pot is empty or heating with little or no fluid inside), read the manufacturer's instructions to ensure your vessel can handle such cooking […]

18. Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent. Of a bite from an animal: not containing the usual venom.

    Examples

    dry bite

19. In a dry spell (e.g., unemployed, slow).

    Examples

    Things are dry right now. We're hoping business'll pick up next month.

    Fa la la la Fa la la lee Now let me go, my honey oh back to Tennessee It's beefsteak when I'm workin, whiskey when I'm dry, and sweet heaven when I die

20. Of a mass, service, or rite: involving neither consecration nor communion.

21. Mixed with sauce and not served in a soup.

    Usage

    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
    • of noodles

    Examples

    I would have mee tai mak (short, thick noodles), either in soup or dry, with fishballs, pork balls or yong tau foo at this noodles shop near my house.

Noun

1. The process by which something is dried.

   Examples

   This towel is still damp: I think it needs another dry.

2. A prohibitionist (of alcoholic beverages).

   Usage

   • US usage

   Examples

   The drys were as unhappy with the second part of the speech as the wets were with the first half.

3. An area with little or no rain, or sheltered from it.

   Examples

   Come under my umbrella and keep in the dry.

4. The dry season.

   Usage

   • Australia
   • with-definite-article

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   […] one was sodden to the bone and mildewed to the marrow and moved to pray […] for that which formerly he had cursed—the Dry! the good old Dry—when the grasses yellowed, browned, dried to tinder, burst into spontaneous flame— […]

   [T]he spring-fed river systems. Not the useless little tributary jutting off into a mud hole at the end of the Dry.

5. An area of waterless country.

   Usage

   • Australia

6. Unsweetened ginger ale; dry ginger.

   Examples

   All day, all night you feel as if the Earth could fly/Three more all for fine Indian Gin and whiskey dry.

   Can you buy dry ginger in Croatia? If not what is an alternative?

   More examples (1)

   Black Douglas Blended Scotch and Dry Case 24 x 375mL Cans (Title).

7. A radical or hard-line Conservative; especially, one who supported the policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

   Usage

   • UK usage

   Antonyms

   wet

Verb

1. To lose moisture.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Synonyms

   dehydratedesiccate

   Examples

   The clothes dried on the line.

   The fruit dried in the dehydrator.

2. To remove moisture from.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Synonyms

   dehydratedesiccate

   Examples

   Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief.

   We dried the fruit in the dehydrator.

3. To exhaust; to cause to run dry.

   Usage

   • Figurative
   • Transitive

   Synonyms

   dry up

4. For an actor to forget their lines while performing.

   Usage

   • Informal
   • Intransitive

   Examples

   An actor never stumbled over his lines, he “fluffed”; he never forgot his dialogue, he “dried.”

   In one of the previews I dried (lost my lines) in my opening scene, 1.4, and had to improvise.

   More examples (1)

   Blinded to the astonishment of a thousand spectators by the force of the footlights, [Derek] Jacobi realised he'd dried. Dried completely. It wasn't like he'd forgotten the words. It was like he'd never known them.

Adjective

1. free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet

   Antonyms

   wet

   Examples

   dry land

   dry clothes

   More examples (4)

   a dry climate

   dry splintery boards

   a dry river bed

   the paint is dry

2. humorously sarcastic or mocking

   Synonyms

   ironicironicalwry

   Examples

   dry humor

   an ironic remark often conveys an intended meaning obliquely

   More examples (3)

   an ironic novel

   an ironical smile

   with a wry Scottish wit

3. lacking moisture or volatile components

   Antonyms

   wet

   Examples

   dry paint

4. opposed to or prohibiting the production and sale of alcoholic beverages

   Antonyms

   wet

   Examples

   the dry vote led by preachers and bootleggers

   a dry state

5. not producing milk

   Antonyms

   wet

   Examples

   a dry cow

6. (of liquor) having a low residual sugar content because of decomposition of sugar during fermentation

   Antonyms

   sweet

   Examples

   a dry white burgundy

   a dry Bordeaux

7. without a mucous or watery discharge

   Antonyms

   phlegmy

   Examples

   a dry cough

   that rare thing in the wintertime: a small child with a dry nose

8. not shedding tears

   Examples

   dry sobs

   with dry eyes

9. lacking interest or stimulation; dull and lifeless

   Synonyms

   juiceless

   Examples

   a dry book

   a dry lecture filled with trivial details

10. used of solid substances in contrast with liquid ones

    Examples

    dry weight

11. unproductive especially of the expected results

    Examples

    a dry run

    a mind dry of new ideas

12. having no adornment or coloration

    Examples

    dry facts

    rattled off the facts in a dry mechanical manner

13. (of food) eaten without a spread or sauce or other garnish

    Examples

    dry toast

    dry meat

14. having a large proportion of strong liquor

    Examples

    a very dry martini is almost straight gin

15. lacking warmth or emotional involvement

    Examples

    a dry greeting

    a dry reading of the lines

    More examples (1)

    a dry critique

16. practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages

    Synonyms

    teetotal

    Examples

    he's been dry for ten years

    no thank you, I happen to be teetotal

Noun

1. a reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages

   Synonyms

   prohibitionist

   Broader terms

   reformerreformistcrusadersocial reformermeliorist

Verb

1. remove the moisture from and make dry

   Synonyms

   dry out

   Antonyms

   wet

   Broader terms

   changealtermodify

   Examples

   dry clothes

   dry hair

2. become dry or drier

   Synonyms

   dry out

   Broader terms

   change

   Examples

   The laundry dries in the sun