| 释义 |
▪ I. dry, a. (adv.)|draɪ|
Forms: 1 drýᵹe, dríᵹe, 2–4 driȝe, drei(e, 3 druie, (Orm.) driȝȝe, 3–4 druye, drue, 3–7 drie, 4 dryȝe, druiȝe, druyȝe, draye, dreȝe, drey(e, dri, 4–7 drye, 6 drygh, drigh, 4– dry.
[OE. drýᵹe (:—*drûgi-) in ablaut relation with MDu. dröghe, drōghe, Du. droog, MLG., LG. drög(e, droge, dreuge (:—*draugi-), f. OTeut. ablaut-series *dreug-, draug-, drug- to be dry, whence also OE. drúᵹian to dry, drúᵹað drought, and (with formative suffix) OHG. trochan, Ger. trocken dry.]
A. adj.
I. As a physical quality.
1. a. Destitute of or free from moisture; not wet or moist; arid; of the eyes, free from tears.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xii. 43 He gæð ᵹeond driᵹe stowa [Lindisf. G. dryia, Rushw. G. dryᵹe, Hatton G. dreᵹe stowa]. a1175Cott. Hom. 227 He hi ledde ofer sé mid dreie fote. c1175Lamb. Hom. 87 God hom ledde ofer þa rede se, mid druȝe fotan. 1340Ayenb. 240 Ase þe desert is hard and draye. c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 336 Ne never mo myne eyen two bee drye. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 125 Þei leien a dreie clooþ vndir. c1440Promp. Parv. 132/1 Dry fro moysture, siccus. 1529Rastell Pastyme, Hist. Brit. (1811) 155 Men [went] over a fote drye. a1562G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 243 Among whome was not oon drie eye. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence (1607) 226 As dry as a kixe [= kex]. 1670Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 52 The Air rather sharper and dryer. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 542 Rub his Temples, with fine Towels, dry. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 299 Atmospheric air in the driest possible state. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. xviii, Till every blade is as dry as a bone. 1834Orange Song (in Hansard Ser. iii. XXXII. 717), Then put your trust in God, my boys, And keep your powder dry!
†b. In mediæval physiology: One of the fundamental qualities of elements, humours, planets, etc.; opp. to moist. (See cold a. 6.) Obs.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxiii. §4 Sie eorþ is dryᵹe and ceald. c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 299 Eorðe ys ceald and driᵹᵹe. a1300Cursor M. 3563 His blode þan wexus dri and cald. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 10 Þe qualitees..ben foure: hoot, coold, moist and drie. 1578Lyte Dodoens iii. lxxviii. 426 Aconit is hoate and drie in the fourth degree. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xv. (1651) 128 Saturn and Mercury, the Patrons of Learning, are both dry Planets. 1819J. Wilson Compl. Dict. Astrol. 3 Madness, melancholy..and all diseases proceeding from a dry habit.
c. Of a season or climate: Free from or deficient in rain; having scanty rainfall; not rainy.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 531 Thulke ȝer was that somer so druye & so hot. 1500–20Dunbar Thistle & Rose 70 Dame Nature..bad eik Juno..That scho the hevin suld keip amene and dry. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 560 Mise are multiplied in drie seasons. 1626Bacon Nat. Hist. §807 A Drie March, and a Drie May, portend a Wholesome Summer, if there be a Showring Aprill betweene. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 322 The Summer had been the driest that was known of some years. c1893[see wet a. 2 a]. a1897Mod. Arable land that does fairly well in a dry year. 1932J. S. Huxley Prob. Rel. Growth ii. 71 The wet-season and dry-season forms of certain tropical butterflies. 1964C. Willock Enormous Zoo vii. 113 A Rhodesian dry season track which was rarely used by vehicles.
2. a. That has given up or lost its natural or ordinary moisture; dried, desiccated, parched, withered. Now arch. or sunk in sense 1.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xxiii. 31 Forðon ᵹif in groene tree ðas doað, in dryᵹi huæd worðes? [Rushw. on dryᵹe, Ags. G. on þam driᵹean.] a1225Ancr. R. 276 Ofte druie sprintles bereð winberien? a1300Cursor M. 20747 His arms war al clungen dri [v. rr. drei, dry]. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxxvii. (1495) 625 Yf olde men ete ofte drye fygges. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 3523 When my mouthe was dry for thrist. 1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. xxiv. 61 Greate store of drie Cinamon. 1677Lond. Gaz. No. 1232/1, 3 French Prizes, laden with dry Fish from Newfoundland. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 79 A dry tongue can no more taste, than a dry eye see..distinctly.
b. Said of a body of water, or of moisture on a surface, that has disappeared by evaporation, or by being wiped or drained away: Dried up.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2166 The brode Ryuer somtyme waxeth dreye. 1563W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 2 b, If there be a plash of water..standing in the heate of the Sunne, it will soone be drie. 1632Lithgow Trav. vi. 279 We saw a quadrangled dry Pond. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. v. 95 Some small Rivers..are dry at certain seasons of the year. 1707Watts Hymn ‘Come, we that love the Lord’ x, Then let our songs abound, And ev'ry tear be dry. 1799in J. W. Cole Lives Generals Penin. War (1832) I. ii. 78 Before the sweat was dry on his brow.
3. a. Of persons: Wanting or desirous of drink; thirsty. Cf. a-dry. (Now only in vulgar use.) b. transf. Of things or conditions: Causing thirst.
1406Hoccleve La Male Regle 135 The thirsty hete of hertes drie. a1536Calisto & Mel. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 79 To eat when I will, and drink when I am dry. 1657Cokaine Obstinate Lady iv. iii, Boy. I am very dry with singing and dancing. Jaq. Follow me to the wine cellar! 1738Wesley Hymn, ‘Of Him who did Salvation bring’ viii, I drink, and yet am ever dry. 1807Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) II. 182, I returned hungry, weary and dry, and had only snow to supply the calls of nature. 1890Beeton's Christm. Ann. 17 Come in, you look dry; let's have a wet. Mod. Better have a pint; it's dry work.
fig.1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 112 So drie he was for Sway.
4. a. Not yielding water (or other liquid); exhausted of its supply of liquid.
a1300Cursor M. 310 (Gött.) He es welle þat neuer is drey. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 378 It would..drawe the veyne of mine invention drie. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xiii. 304 It must be a dry flower..out of which this bee sucks no honey. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Modern Par. Churches 160 A dry inkstand. 1883Century Mag. July 323/1 Wasting large sums of money on ‘dry holes’ [unproductive oil-wells]. Mod. Our own well never runs dry.
b. spec. Of cows, sheep, etc.: Not yielding milk.
c1440Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 37 Ȝif þou paye tythe for leyse to þi mylche beestys, & noȝt of þi drye beestys. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §39 The dammes wil waxe drye, and wayne theyr lambes theym selfe. 1658W. Burton Itin. Anton. 187 (L.) At home their allowance..was no more than three milch cowes; and in case any of them became dry, the parishioners supplied them again. 1789Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) II. 100 What we term dry sheep (viz. wethers, barren ewes, &c.). 1890Daily News 8 Dec. 26/5 Twenty thousand breeding ewes..the remainder being what are called ‘dry sheep’.
5. Not under, in, or on water; not submerged (see also dry land); † inland (quot. 1599); drawn or cast up on shore, as a boat or a fish.
c1200Ormin 14862 Swa þatt teȝȝ o þe driȝȝe grund Wel sæȝhenn openn weȝȝe. a1300Cursor M. 381 Drightin..bad a dri sted suld be. 1393Gower Conf. I. 220 Came none of hem to londe drey. c1460Towneley Myst. 2 That at is dry the erth shalle be, The waters also I calle the see. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. 268 Aleppo..is the greatest place of traffique for a dry towne that is in all these parts. 1699W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 93 The Head of his Ketch was dry, and at the Stern, there was above 4 Foot Water. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §195 note, In dry work the difference of hardness..is less apparent. 1798R. Dodd Port Lond. 5 Further dry arches on each shore. 1816Keatinge Trav. (1817) II. 55 The tide leaves them dry.
6. Of bread (or toast): Without butter or the like.
1579Fulke Refut. Rastell 762 The words..wold not agree to drie bread. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop (libr. ed.) II. ix. 66 Making some thin dry toast. 1884G. Allen Philistia III. 157 The meal..of dry bread with plain tea.
7. Solid, not liquid.
1722Ogle in Lond. Gaz. No. 6091/1 Neither the Wine nor dry Provisions were come. 1806Hutton Course Math. I. 27 By this are measured all dry wares, as, Corn, Seeds, Roots, Fruits, Salt, Coals, Sand, Oysters, &c.
8. Of wines, etc.: Free from sweetness and fruity flavour.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Dry-wine, a little rough upon, but very grateful to the Palate. 1706Farquhar Recruiting Officer iii. (1728) 43 Many a dry bottle have we crack'd hand to fist. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xlviii, Where's the old dry wine? 1887J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstr., Bolney Ferry (1892) 187 In Mrs. Williams' driest sherry He toasts the Lass of Bolney Ferry!
9. Metallurgy. Said of copper, tin, or lead, in the brittle and coarse-grained condition which they exhibit before refining, or when insufficiently deoxidated in refining.
1875Ure's Dict. Arts I. 918 When the operation of refining begins, the copper is dry or brittle..Its grain is coarse, open, and somewhat crystalline. Ibid. 919 Copper, in the dry state, has a strong action upon iron. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Dry copper. Under-poled copper. Copper not poled enough to remove all sub-oxide.
10. transf. Of or relating to dry substances or commodities; dry measure, measure of capacity for non-liquids.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 337/2 A Pint..is the least of dry measures. 1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 703 The loss in the dry weight connected with the exhalation of carbon dioxide. 1887Whitaker's Almanack 363 In dry or corn measure, eight bushels..make a quarter. 1891Daily News 9 Nov. 3/6 In both wet and dry departments separate rooms are set apart for all deadly drugs.
11. Not associated or connected with liquid.
a. Not accompanied or associated with drink; orig. in U.S. political slang, said of places which favour the prohibition of the liquor traffic. Also, of a person who favours prohibition; hence quasi-advb. in phrases to go dry or vote dry.
b. Of diseases, etc.: Not marked by a discharge of matter, phlegm, etc.
c. Not accompanied with tears.
†d. Not accompanied with bloodshed: see also f. (obs.)
e. Said of processes or apparatus in which no liquid is used.
f. phr. to die a dry death: i.e. without bloodshed, or (in Shakes.) without drowning.
a.1483Cath. Angl. 108/2 A Dry feste, xerofagia. 1579Fulke Refut. Rastell 778 The Papistes make a drie communion, when they robbe the people of the cuppe. 1591G. Fletcher Russe Commw. 13 Priviledge to drinke..at drye or prohibited times. 1599H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner A v, A Dry Dinner..without all drinke, except Tobacco (which also is but Dry Drinke). 1667Poole Dial. betw. Protest. & Papist (1735) 198 It was not a dry Feast..they had drink with it. 1870Scribner's Monthly I. 63 Dry or wet, Mr. Dort? Indifferent, eh? Adolph, a hock-glass. 1887Courier-Journal 7 Feb. 1/7 Athens, in which the State university is located,..is a dry town. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. liv. 350 note, A local option system, under which each county decides whether it will be ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ (i.e. permit or forbid the sale of intoxicants). 1888Detroit Evening Jrnl. 20 Feb. (Farmer), If a county has voted on local option, and has gone dry. 1892Daily News 7 Apr. 3/6 Dividing the receipts at the music-halls..as they are named in the trade ‘Wet Money’ and ‘Dry Money’ [i.e. money paid for refreshments, and for admission]. 1904N.Y. Even. Post 3 Oct. 6 If every town and city in Vermont should vote ‘dry’ at the next election. 1908[see wet a. 16 c]. 1916Literary Digest (N.Y.) 1 Jan. 4/2 About as much ‘dry’ territory ‘going wet’ as there was of ‘wet’ territory ‘going dry’. 1944W. R. Scott Revolt on Mount Sinai xxii. 179 Many members who long had voted dry accepted the election result as a mandate from the people. 1971Scotsman 20 May 20/8 If the people of Kirkintilloch could be consulted on the issue of whether they should remain ‘dry’ or ‘wet’ it was difficult to see whether they should not also be consulted on the question of whether they should enter the Common Market.
b.c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 57 Þe drie discrasie þou schalt knowe bi þe..litil quytture. 1581Mulcaster Positions xii. (1887) 61 Good for the drie cowghe. 1704F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1718) 182 Occasion'd by the Dry-Gripes of that Country. 1811Hooper Med. Dict. s.v. Colica, This is called..from its victims, the plumbers' and the painters' colic; from its symptoms, the dry belly-ache, the nervous and spasmodic colic. 1834J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 83 The expression dry catarrh involves a contradiction if we look to etymology..I shall employ it..to designate those inflammations of the bronchi which are attended with little or no expectoration.
c.1619W. Whately God's Husb. ii. (1622) 49 The Lord will not reiect dry sorrow, if he see it hearty and true. a1700Dryden (J.), Dry mourning will decays more deadly bring..Give sorrow vent, and let the sluices go. 1852Hawthorne Blithedale Rom. xxv, Dry sobs they seemed to be.
d.1618Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 75 (D.) Thus are both sides busied in this drie warre. 1660Fuller Mixt Contempl. (1841) 204 If we should be blessed with a dry peace, without one drop of blood therein.
e.1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 395 In the Dry way, it may be essayed when pulverized. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 386 Iron..precipitates nickel from its acid solutions, and in the dry way takes from it the sulphur which it contains. c1865Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 127/2 The first dry-meter was patented by Mr. Malam in 1820. 1879J. M. Duncan Lect. Dis. Women xxx. (1889) 250, I have often seen the knife used in the manner which..is called dry tapping. 1890Walmsley Electr. in Serv. Man 108 Dry piles—that is, batteries where no fluids were used—were first constructed by Behrens (1806).
f.1591Shakes. Two Gent. i. i. 158 Destin'd to a drier death on shore. 1610― Temp. i. i. 72, I would faine dye a dry death. 1594Mirr. Policy (1599) E iij, Tyrants..goe neuer to Pluto with a drie death..without bloud and murder. 1688R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times III. 275 He dy'd rather a Dry Death, then a Bloudy.
†12. Of a blow, or a beating: properly, That does not draw blood (as a blow given with a stick or the fist, which merely causes a bruise); by some app. used vaguely, = Hard, stiff, severe. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 306/2 Blo, blewe and grene coloured, as ones body is after a drie stroke. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 94 A Iewe..couered with woundes and swelling drye blowes. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 64. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 711 Give him many a drie bob. 1709Steele Tatler No. 38 ⁋3 Many a dry Blow was strenuously laid on by each Side. 1711Vind. Sacheverell 44 The Fellow..had an honest dry drubbing. a1774Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Comic Rom. I. 104 Having got nothing but dry blows and empty pockets.
II. Figurative senses.
13. Feeling or showing no emotion, impassive; destitute of tender feeling; wanting in sympathy or cordiality; stiff, hard, cold. In early use, chiefly: Wanting spiritual emotion or unction.
c1200Ormin 9883 Hæþenn follkess herrte Iss..driȝȝe, & all wiþþutenn dæw. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 27 Weetynge of hevenly deew to her drie hertis. c1450tr. De Imitatione ii. viii. 48 Hov dry & hov harde þou art wiþoute ihesu! 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 87 b, Drye, dull, or vndeuoute in spirituall thynges. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 440 He..is grown miskenning and dry to His poor friends. 1761–2Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxxi. 321 Noted for an address so cold, dry, and distant, that it was very difficult..to soften or familiarize it. 1825T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 110 Lord North's answers were dry, unyielding..and betrayed an absolute indifference to the occurrence of a rupture. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxvi. 244 ‘Well!’ said St. Clare, in a tone of dry endurance.
14. Said of a jest or sarcasm uttered in a matter-of-fact tone and without show of pleasantry, or of humour that has the air of being unconscious or unintentional; also of a person given to such humour; caustically witty; in early use, ironical.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. Pref. *v, Of the subtile knackes, of the drye mockes..whiche Socrates dooeth there vse. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xviii. (Arb.) 199 The figure Ironia, which we call the drye mock. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. iii. 81, i. v. 45. 1709 Rambl. Fuddle-Cups 7 Keep your Flirts to your self, and your merry dry Bobs. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. v, [He] was..something of a humorist and dry joker. 1864Burton Scot Abr. I. iii. 129 Froissart, with a touch of dry humour, explains that their allies had no objection to speed the exit of the poorer knights.
†15.
a. Yielding no fruit, result, or satisfaction; barren, sterile, unfruitful, jejune. (Cf. 4.) Obs. (or merged in sense 17).
a1340Hampole Psalter vi. 6, I sall make it to bere froit, þat bifore was drye fra goed werkes. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 67 b, He shall go drye, and for a surety haue no perfeccyon. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. i. 42 One..whose dryer braine Is tost with troubled sights and fancies weake. a1680Glanvill (J.), That the fire burns by heat, is an empty dry return to the question, and leaves us still ignorant.
†b. Of persons: Miserly, stingy; reserved, uncommunicative. (Cf. 4.) Obs.
1552Huloet, Drye fellow whom some call a pelt or pinchbecke. 1604etc. [see dry-fist]. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Acquests, He is but a drie fellow, there is nought to be got by dealing with him. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 509 Dry or reserved. 1688–9Ld. Clarendon Diary (T.), He thanked me..and said, he had not seen so particular an account of those affairs before: but he was very dry as to all things else.
16. Lacking adornment or embellishment, or some addition; meagre, plain, bare; matter-of-fact.
1626Laud Wks. (1849) II. 370 And if they say..they believe them in the Church's sense; yet that dry shift will not serve. a1637B. Jonson Discoveries, Precipiendi modi (1640) 116 As wee should take care, that our style in writing, be neither dry, nor empty. 1647H. More Song of Soul To Rdr. 7/1 Contemplations concerning the dry essence of the Deity are very consuming and unsatisfactory. 1648Gage West Ind. ii. 6 With a pension and dry title only. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. Pref., Enforced thereunto, by Dry Mathematicall Reason. c1714Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mrs. Hewet (1887) I. 34 I would willingly return..something more..than dry thanks impertinently expressed. 1803Ld. Eldon in Vesey's Rep. VIII. 435 It is the case of a dry trust, all the debts and legacies being long paid. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. ii, A long catalogue of dry facts.
17. Deficient in interest; unattractive, distasteful, insipid. (fig. from food that wants succulency.)
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. i. ii. (1651) 39 Our subtle Schoolmen..are weak, dry, obscure. 1661Pepys Diary 12 May, Methought it was a poor dry Sermon. 1712Addison Spect. No. 315 ⁋3 These Points are dry in themselves to the generality of Readers. 1780Harris Philol. Enq. Wks. (1841) 425 If these speculations appear too dry, they may be rendered more pleasing, if the reader would peruse the two pieces criticised. 1790J. Q. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 567 Mankind have an aversion to the study of the science of government. Is it because the subject is dry? 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 14 Annals..valuable to the antiquary, but dry and profitless to others.
18. a. Art. Characterized by stiff and formal outlines; lacking in softness or mellowness; frigidly precise.
1716Notes Dryden's transl. Du Fresnoy's Art Painting 224 His Manner was Gothique and very dry. Ibid. 227 [His] manner was drier and harder than any of Raphael's School. a1792Sir J. Reynolds Journ. Flanders & Holland (R.), The fall of the Angels, by F. Floris, 1554; which has some good parts, but without masses, and dry. 1850J. Leitch Müller's Anc. Art §205. 195 The workmanship, however, is still drier than in the Antonines. 1876Humphreys Coin-Coll. Man. xxiv. 353 A dry and hard manner of execution.
b. Of acoustics: lacking in warmth or resonance.
1961Listener 2 Nov. 715/2 When an orchestra broadcasts in a television studio, where the acoustic is likelier to be drier. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 53 Some modern music is now written for drier acoustics than those which sound best for Beethoven.
19. Of money, rent, or fees: Paid in hard cash, in actual coin. [Cf. F. argent sec, perte sèche.]
1574Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. 162 Such as shal play at Cardes or dice for drie money. 1656J. Harrington Oceana (1700) 36 Worth a matter of four millions dry rents. 1664Pepys Diary 30 Sept., I am fain to preserve my vowe by paying 20s. dry money into the poor's box. 1694Provid. God 64 That what could not be done by dry Money, might be by Debauchery. 1713Addison Guardian No. 97 ⁋5 To Zelinda's woman..fifteen guineas in dry money. 1725Berkeley Let. to T. Prior 12 June Wks. 1871 IV. 112 It hath cost me 130 pounds dry fees, besides expedition-money to men in office. 1885Standard 3 Apr. 2/6 He had played in Defendant's house..but not for ‘dry money’.
20. dry light (an expression derived from a doubtful or corrupt passage in Heraclitus; ed. Bywater 30): ‘Light’ untinged by any infusion of personal predilection, prejudice, or fancy.
1625Bacon Ess., Friendship ⁋7 Heraclitus saith in one of his ænigmaes: Dry Light is euer the best. ― Apophth. 268 Heraclitus the Obscure sayd: The drie Light was the best Soule. Meaning, when the Faculties Intellectual are in vigour, not wet, nor, as it were, blouded by the Affections. 1870Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 149 The web that looks so familiar and ordinary in the dry light of every day.
B. as adv. In a dry manner, dryly. (See C. 2.)
1513Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 4. §1 If the same Worsted, so dry calandred, taketh any Wet. 1710–11Swift Lett. (1767) III. 97 I talk dry and cross to him. 1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. xix. (ed. 2) 331 Where the land is very dry situated. 1833Marryat P. Simple xxviii, ‘He's rowing dry, your honour—only making bilave.’
C. Combinations.
1. Parasynthetic, as dry-eyed a., having dry eyes, tearless, not weeping; dry-boned, dry-fancied, dry-handed, dry-leaved, dry-lipped, dry-skinned, dry-tongued, etc. adjs.; also dry-looking adj. See also dry-fisted, -footed.
1618R. Brathwait Descr. Death in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 271 Chop-falne, crest-sunke, *drie-bon'd anatomie.
1667Milton P.L. xi. 495 Sight so deform what heart of Rock could long *Drie-ey'd behold? 1890Pall Mall G. 3 Sept. 6/2 The face..has the drawn expression of dry-eyed grief.
1682H. More Annot. Glanvill's Lux O. 50 Any *dry-fancied Metaphysicians.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal 241 As in a *drie-mouth'd feaver.
1855Tennyson Maud i. xviii. 8 The *dry-tongued laurels' pattering talk.
2. Adverbial, in comb. with verbs and their derivatives.
a. In a dry way; without the use of liquid; without drawing blood: as dry-feed, dry-rub, dry-scratch, dry-scrub, dry-wash, etc., vbs.; dry-blowing pres. pple.; dry-washing; † dry-bang, † dry-baste vbs. = dry-beat; dry-clean v. trans., to clean (clothes and other textiles) without using water; also intr. and transf.; hence dry-cleanable adj., dry-cleaned ppl. adj., dry-cleaner, dry-cleaning vbl. n. and ppl. adj.; dry-cupping, see cupping 1; dry-cure v., to cure meat, etc. by salting and drying, as distinguished from pickling; dry-dyeing (see quot. 1904); dry-grind v., to grind articles of cutlery without the use of water; hence dry-grinder, a workman employed in dry-grinding; so dry-pointing, e.g. of needles and table-forks; dry-salt v. = dry-cure; dry-shave v., (see quots.).
c1600Day Begg. Bednall Gr. iv. iii, And I did not *dry bang ye all one after another I'de eat no more but Mustard.
1630Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. vi. 58 They..*dry-basted brother Hill and left vs.
1728–46Thomson Spring 115 If..a cutting gale..*dry-blowing, breathe Untimely frost.
1817W. Tucker Family Dyer & Scourer i. 20 For *dry cleaning Clothes of any Colour. 1897Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Sept. 620/2 A firm of so-called ‘dry-cleaners’ of wearing apparel. Ibid., In this dry-cleaning process the goods were immersed in a vessel of benzine. 1899Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 3/1 A dry cleaning cloth ball. Ibid. 20 Apr. 3/3 The present extraordinary perfection of dry-cleaning. Ibid., A good gown, dry-cleaned, is a much better thing than an inferior new one. Of course I do not pretend that all dry-cleaners are equally good. Ibid. 12 Oct. 3/2 How well they may dry-clean at home by the use of benzoline. 1908Daily Report 27 Aug. 6/4 The conditions under which women and girls work in dry-cleaning establishments, where benzine is largely used. 1930Engineering 12 Dec. 760/1 The advantages which dry cleaning [of coal] had to offer, as compared with wetwashing, were essentially financial ones... Had it been decided to wash the coal in the ordinary way instead of dry cleaning it, an additional 13 ovens would have been necessary. 1957New Yorker 16 Nov. 150/2 Dry-cleanable colors include black and deep gold. 1958Dry-cleaned [see automat 3]. 1970‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird viii. 111 Blood was spreading over..his cream jersey suit. It would never dry-clean. 1970Encycl. Brit. VII. 709/2 Dry cleaning is the process of cleaning fabrics with liquids other than water. Ibid., The dry-cleaned garment maintains its original shape and feel. For many years the dry-cleaning process was based on the use of highly flammable solvents.
1822–34Good Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 473 The use of *dry-cupping between the shoulders.
1904Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 4/2 *Dry-dyeing is simply dyeing with aniline dyes soluble in spirit. 1907Daily Chron. 8 July 4/4 New systems of *dry-feeding young and adult stock.
1824Ann. Reg. 259 His apparatus for the relief of *dry-grinders.
1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xix. (ed. 3) 187 *Dry-pointing, which also is executed with great rapidity.
1495Act 11 Hen. VIII, c. 19 Preamb., Pillows made of..scalded feders and *drie pulled feders to gedre.
1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 278/1 Goat-skins in their raw state come to the market ‘*dry salted’.
1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 305 On intermediate days the rooms are *dry-scrubbed.
1620Thomas Lat. Dict., Attondere aliquem auro, to ridde him of his gold, to *drie shaue him. 1706Phillips, To Dry-shave, to chowse, gull or cheat notoriously. 1778in Harper's Mag. (1883) 546/2 [He] shall be dry shaved..and have his head dressed on the parade.
1901Kipling Kim viii. 207 The halts for prayers (Mahbub was very religious in *dry-washings and bellowings when time did not press). 1962‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed xiv. 93 He began worriedly dry-washing his hands.
b. So as to be or become dry, to dryness: as dry-suck, dry-weep vbs.; dry-burnt, dry-drunken, dry-roasted, dry-withering ppl. adjs.
1891R. Kipling Light that failed xii, The grass was *dry-burnt in the meadows.
1589Cogan Haven Health (1636) 132 Except it be very *dry rosted. 1671Shadwell Humourists 111, Loins of Mutton dry-roasted.
1604Dekker Honest Wh. viii. Wks. 1873 II. 49 Thou *dry-suckst him.
3. Special attributive combs.: dry bath slang, a search of a prisoner when he has been stripped naked; dry battery Electr., a battery of dry cells; dry-beard, an old man with a dry or withered beard; dry-blower Austral., (a) a gold-miner; (b) used as a term of opprobrium; (c) (see quot. 1964); dry-blowing Austral. (see quot. 1894); dry-bob (see Bob n.7); hence dry-bob vb.; (see also bob n.3 1 and 2); dry-bone (U.S.), a miner's name for the silicate and other ores of zinc (Dana 1868); dry-bones, a contemptuous or familiar term for a thin or withered person, who has little flesh on his bones; dry brush (see quots.); freq. attrib.; dry-bulb thermometer, one of the two thermometers of which a dry- and wet-bulb hygrometer consists; dry camp U.S., a camp or halt where there is no water; dry-castor, ‘a kind of beaver, called also parchment-beaver’ (Webster 1864); dry cell Electr., a voltaic cell in which the electrolyte is contained in an absorbent material or is in the form of a paste, thus preventing spilling of the contents; dry-cooper, a cooper who makes casks, etc. for dry goods; dry diggings, (a) (orig. U.S.) gold-diggings away from a river or stream; (b) in South Africa, diamond-diggings at which the diamondiferous material is disintegrated by exposure to the atmosphere; dry-dike = dry-stone dike (see dike n.1 6 b).; so dry-diked adj., dry-diker; † dry-ditch v. trans., to work at (anything) without result, like one digging a ditch into which no water flows; dry end, that end of a paper-making or drying-machine from which the material emerges dry; dry farming chiefly N. Amer., farming without a good supply of water; so dry farm n. and vb., dry farmer; dry-fly a. and v. (Angling), used to describe a method of fishing in which an artificial fly floats lightly on the water; an artificial fly used in this type of fishing; dry fuck U.S. coarse slang, (a) a simulated act of sexual intercourse, without penetration and usu. without removing the clothes; (b) an unsatisfactory act of intercourse, esp. one which does not result in ejaculation or orgasm; so as v., to engage in intercourse of this kind; dry hopping (see quot. 1956); dry house, a building in which miners change their clothing (also called drying-house, or dry); dry ice orig. U.S., solid carbon dioxide; dry joint Electr., a soldered joint with faulty electrical continuity; dry lodging, lodging without board; dry-march, a march or boundary-line not formed by a river or water; dry mounting, a method of mounting photographs (see quot. 1958); dry multure, see multure; dry-needle = dry-point; dry offset (see quots.); dry pack, see pack; dry-pile a. († dripile), with the pile dry; dry-plate (Photogr.), a sheet of glass coated with collodion subsequently sensitized and dried, or, more usually, with an emulsion of gelatine (or collodion) containing a sensitive silver salt, and exposed to the action of light in a dry state; dry-plate clutch Mech., a plate clutch which operates without lubrication; dry-point (Engraving), (a) a sharp-pointed needle used for engraving without acid on a copper plate from which the etching-ground has been removed; (b) the process of engraving in this way, or an engraving so executed; hence dry-point vb.; dry-point settlement, village, one which is not liable to flooding; dry-puddling, see puddling: † dry-rent, a rent-seck or barren rent, i.e. one reserved without clause of distress (obs.); dry run, (a) U.S. a dry creek or arroyo; (b) colloq. (orig. U.S.), a rehearsal, test, ‘dummy run’; hence as v. trans., to rehearse, practise; dry shampoo (see quot. 1966); dry shaver, an electric or other razor for use without soap and water; dry-shearer, a workman whose business is to shear the nap of cloth; dry-ski a., designating a school, etc., for indoor training in ski-ing; dry skid, a skid of a motor vehicle on a dry surface; so dry-skid v. intr.; dry-skin (see quot.); dry spell, a period of dry weather (see quot. 1920); dry spinning, a method of spinning natural or artificial fibres (see quots. 1904 and 1957); hence dry-spin vb. trans., dry-spun adj.; dry-stone a., applied to a ‘dike’ or stone wall built without mortar, cf. dike n.1 6 b; dry-stove, a stove for plants, with dry heat; dry suit, a type of diving suit, usu. made of sheet rubber, which uses the principle of air-insulation to protect the diver from cold, and under which warm clothing can be worn; dry valley, a valley in which the original stream or river has disappeared; dry wall, a wall built without mortar; hence dry-wall v. trans. and intr., to build a dry wall (around); dry-waller, dry-walling; dry wash N. Amer., the dry bed of an intermittent stream. See also dry dock, etc.
1933G. Ingram Stir v. 93 The warder..said he'd give him a *dry bath just to see. 1965New Statesman 30 July 452/3 Two or three times a week the Heavy Mob rushed into our cells and gave us a ‘dry bath’, which adequately describes the search of a man who is standing ‘starkers’ in the middle of his cell.
1885Electrician 10 Jan. 174/1 (heading) Conversion of liquid into *dry batteries.
1749Garrick Lethe i. (1798) I. 11 Well said, old *dry⁓beard. 1797T. Park Sonnets 66 By Pythagrean dry⁓beards sentenc'd.
1895Queenslander 7 Dec. 1069 Every other man you meet in Coolgardie..is either a lord, a colonel, a captain, a doctor, an expert, an agent, a sharebroker, or a sharper; all the rest are dudes, drunkards, and *dryblowers, professional liars, and loafers. 1935Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Mar. 10/4 In the early days of the Westralian goldfields it gained me many friends amongst the isolated dryblowers to whom I passed on my weekly copy. 1936F. Clune Roaming round Darling xix. 196 There we met Dryblower Tom Mitchell, awaiting the return of his camel-team, to go prospecting. 1964R. Ward Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads 208 A ‘dry⁓blower’ is a crude device, made of hessian and wooden saplings, and used in arid areas for separating gold from the ore.
1894Argus 28 Mar. 5/5 (Morris), When water is not available, as unfortunately is the case at Coolgardie, ‘*dry blowing’ is resorted to. This is done by placing the pounded stuff [sc. alluvial ore] in one dish, and pouring it slowly at a certain height into the other. If there is any wind blowing it will carry away the powdered stuff; if there is no wind the breath will have to be used.
1865*Dry-bob [see Bob n.7]. 1881W. E. Norris Matrim. I. 73 You never used to dry-bob at Eton, did you?
1845James A. Neil III. xiv, Ha, old *dry⁓bones, have I caught thee at length?
1911H. P. Bowie Laws Jap. Painting iv. 66 Dry twig or old firewood line..is generally used in the robes of old men and produced by what is called the *dry brush; that is, a brush with very little water mixed with the sumi. 1958M. L. Wolf Dict. Painting 88 Dry brush, in Chinese art, a painting technique in which the ink is used sparingly with a minimum of moisture in the brush; known natively as kan pi. 1959Halas & Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 220 If the area common to the drawings is..less than two-thirds, then dry brush effects can be used to join the two objects.
1882Watts Dict. Chem. III. 227 Table I. To obtain the dew-point, multiply the difference of reading of the thermometers by the factor opposite the *dry-bulb reading, and subtract the product from the dry-bulb reading.
1869J. R. Browne Adv. Apache Country 128 We made a *dry camp till morning. 1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxviii. 615 We..find a pool with water enough for our horses, and to fill our jugs, as we must make a ‘dry camp’ to-night. 1887Outing (U.S.) X. 4/2 We halted on an open place..and went into dry camp. 1920J. M. Hunter Trail Drivers of Texas 312 The round up boss..called for two or three men..to make what is called a ‘dry camp’.
1893P. Benjamin Voltaic Cell xv. 309 *Dry cells are best adapted to circumstances where current is intermittently needed and then only for a short time. 1936Discovery Sept. 285/2 Causing a current from a battery of dry cells to pass through the fine wire.
1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5308/3 Mr. Henry Taylor, *Dry Cooper.
1848Californian 14 Aug. 2/3 In one part of the mine called the ‘*dry diggins’, no other implements are necessary than an ordinary sheath knife, to pick the gold from the rocks. 1853Househ. Words VIII. 321/1 The dry diggings at least furnish equal proof of energy and industry. 1858Brit. Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 11 Dec. 1/2 These are in fact a species of dry diggings. 1858W. Howitt Land, Labour & Gold I. xi. 126 Next came the dry diggings; these were far enough from the stream to be free of its drainage. 1862E. Hodder Memories N.Z. Life 222 There are two principal kinds of diggings: river diggings..and dry diggings, in the conglomerate and gravel accumulated on the slope of the mountains. 1873F. Boyle To the Cape for Diamonds 123 Four ‘dry diggings’:—New Rush..Old De Beers, Dutoitspan, and Bultfontein. 1889K. Munroe Golden Days x. 111 The dry diggings were those of hill-sides, or in gulches containing no steady supply of water. 1899G. Lacy Pictures of Travel 173 The ‘dry diggings’ are thirty miles to the south-east of Pniel. They are so called because the gems are not found in river-wash, but in dry tufa, which has apparently never been in contact with water. 1910J. Hart Vigilante Girl xxiv. 326 It had been a ‘dry diggings’, and the skeleton line of a long flume ran thread-like along the mountains.
1907Macm. Mag. Jan. 196 The platform..was some fifty feet above the valley, and the stones on its face, which was almost perpendicular, appeared to be irregularly *dry-dyked.
1905Spectator 11 Feb. 211/1 In the Boer War the ‘*dry dikers’ of a certain East Yorkshire regiment used to be asked to volunteer to build ‘sangars’.
a1670Hacket Abp. Williams ii. (1692) 98 His adversaries did *dry-ditch their matters and digg'd in vain.
1894J. Dunbar Notes Manuf. Wood Pulp & Papers 39 The temperature of the cylinders was too high at the *dry end of the machine to produce the desired result. 1927T. Woodhouse Artif. Silk iii. 26 The delivery-end or ‘dry-end’ of a pulp drying machine. 1962F. T. Day Introd. Paper iv. 36 The beginning of the paper making machine is described as the ‘wet end’, whilst the other end of the machine, which consists of drying cylinders and paper finishing calenders, is called the ‘dry end’.
1919E. Hough Sagebrusher xxxiii, A few scattered *dry farms, edging up close to the river in the valley far below. 1952D. F. Putnam Canadian Regions 376/2 The extra size of the dry farms. 1971L. Davidson Smith's Gazelle iii. 50 The sheep could graze among the table rock and the wheat could be dry-farmed on most of the rest.
1912R. A. Wason Friar Tuck iii. 36 Next came the *dry farmer. 1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill v. 155 The forlorn shack of a dry-farmer.
1878J. W. Powell Rep. Lands Arid Region 78 A company of Danes..have obtained a meagre subsistence by *dry farming. 1906Nature 26 July 304/2 The scientific aspect of what has been designated in the United States as ‘dry-farming’ consists in utilising to the best advantage all the water that falls in semi-arid regions. 1908Sci. Amer. 22 Aug. 120 ‘Dry farming’ consists in so preparing the soil in semi-arid regions that it will catch what little annual rainfall there is, and store it within reach of the roots of the plants to be grown. 1936F. Clune Roaming round Darling xiii. 113 An Experimental Farm was started to carry out investigations with regard to cereals under dry-farming conditions. 1961L. D. Stamp Gloss. Geogr. Terms 165/2 Dry farming implies a specialized technological treatment of land to overcome the short supply of water.
1846G. P. R. Pulman Vade-Mecum of Fly-Fishing (ed. 2) vii. 84 If the *dry fly be widely different in these respects, the fish will be surprised. 1885Pall Mall G. 29 June 4/2 The beautiful and delicate art of fishing with the dry fly. 1893Nat. Observer 5 Aug. 300/2 You must creep up-stream as warily as if you were dry-flying it on the Hampshire chalk. 1897Westm. Gaz. 7 Apr. 3/1 Dry Fly fishing is..using a dry and floating fly instead of a wet and sunk one. 1913Q. Rev. July 66 Dry-fly fishing for sea trout is still in its infancy.
[1970Partridge Dict. Slang. Suppl. 1113/1 Dry, adj., is, in Australia, used with the low nn. of coïtion for rape and homosexual intercourse: since ca. 1950.] 1971E. E. Landy Underground Dict. 71 *Dry fuck v., go through the motions of sexual intercourse without entering the vagina, usually with clothes on. Performed by junior-high-school and high-school students. n. The simulated act of sexual intercourse with clothes on. 1975Wentworth & Flexner's Dict. Amer. Slang Suppl. 695/1 Dry fuck [taboo], 1 To go through the motions of sexual intercourse without penetration, usu. without removing the clothes. Junior high-school and high-school student use. 2 Unsatisfying sexual intercourse, as when done hurriedly or without emotional involvement, esp. when it does not result in ejaculation or orgasm. 1979Maledicta III. ii. 231 A gay..may or may not know the following words and expressions:..dry fuck (without penetration, or without ky or other lubricant such as vaseline or Crisco).
1884Health Exhib. Catal. 130/1 Drawing of *Dry House where miners change their clothes.
1890*Dry hopping [see hopping vbl. n.2]. 1956New Biol. XXI. 14 Dry hopping is the practice of adding hops to the barrel of finished beer before it leaves the brewery. It gives added aroma and to some degree additional biological stability.
1925Off. Gaz. U.S. Patent Office 28 Apr. 850/2 Dryice Corporation of America..*Dry Ice, Carbon Dioxide (C O2) in Solidified Forms, Mixtures, and Compounds. 1930Engineering 17 Oct. 504/2 The oxidation of carbon-monoxide from electro-metallurgical and calcium-carbide furnaces to carbon dioxide for producing ‘dry ice’, or solid carbon-dioxide. 1938Archit. Rev. LXXXIV. 119 Dry-ice refrigeration unit accommodating approximately 180 half-pint cartons of milk. 1968Times 17 Oct. 18/6 The traps were baited with solid carbon dioxide, or dry ice, which evaporated at the rate of about three litres a minute.
1933H. J. B. Chapple Television ii. 38 Unless [soldering is] thoroughly understood..a set fails to function owing to weak or *dry joints. 1940Amateur Radio Handbk. (ed. 2) iii. 42/2 The best and safest flux is pure resin, although it..needs greater care if dry joints are to be avoided. 1960P.O. Telecomm. Jrnl. XII. 92/2 As ‘dry’ or imperfectly soldered joints may not show up until after the equipment has been in use for some time..any operator employed on soldering should have had adequate practice.
1796in Scott Old Mort. Introd., To *drye Lodginge for seven weeks, {pstlg}0 4 1. 1825Hist. Little Pat (Houlston Tracts I. xi. 3) She..lived in one of those cellars which have ‘dry lodgings’ written over the door.
1820Scott Monast. vi, The last who went south passed the *dry⁓march at the Ridingburn with an escort of thirty spears.
1903Photogram X. 320/1 Wet or *dry mounting. 1958V. Drumm in M. L. Hall Newnes' Complete Amat. Photogr. xxxv. 329 The best method of mounting photographic prints is with the use of dry-mounting tissue in a hot press. The tissue is impregnated with shellac which melts at approximately 160 °F.
c1790J. Imison Sch. Art ii. 48 The *dry needle..is principally employed in the extreme light parts of water, sky, drapery, architecture, &c.
1958T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship 113/2 *Dry offset, printing by letterpress to a rubber cylinder from which impressions are taken on to paper. 1967Karch & Buber Offset Processes ii. 30 Dry Offset. A shallow-etched relief plate transfers the image to a rubber blanket on a cylinder. The press needs no moistening rollers.
1600Fairfax Tasso xx. cxxiv. 388 And loue will shoote you from his mightie bow, Weake is the shot that *dripile falles in snow.
1859Photogr. News I. 296 Some difference of opinion exists as to the collodion best suited for *dry plates. 1878Abney Photogr. (1890) 91 In the development of dry plates..the image..is built up from the solid silver salt in the film itself. Ibid., The practical part of dry-plate processes. 1927Observer 15 May 22 A..*dry plate clutch. 1928Motor World 9 Mar. 162/2 There is an enclosed dry plate clutch, a three-speed unit gear-box.
1837Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 216 The *drypoint, or needle, is principally employed for the lightest parts of the engraving on the copper plate. 1883Athenæum 24 Feb. 256/1 The etchings and dry-points of Venetian views which Mr. Whistler is showing. 1920M. Aurousseau in Geogr. Rev. X. 228 We have two special cases of arrangements governed by water supply—the extreme conditions giving rise to what we will term wet point villages and *dry point villages. 1946L. D. Stamp Britain's Struct. xv. 173 For a thousand years these scattered ‘dry-point’ settlements remained typical of the heart of what is now Greater London.
1845J. Palmer Jrnl. Trav. Rocky Mts. 28 Sept. (1847) 61 We took up a *dry run for one or two miles, thence over a ridge to a running branch. 1893Harper's Mag. Apr. 697/2 Arroyos, or dry runs,..collect the storm waters. 1941Amer. Speech XVI. 165/1 Dry run, to practice; a dress rehearsal. 1943Sat. Evening Post 27 Nov. 12 She had to locate his pulse, get her watch ready and make a couple of dry runs. 1944Air News Yearbk. II. 18 There is long, hard planning, endless training, repeated dry runs..behind undertakings of this magnitude. 1958Spectator 1 Aug. 167/1 A comedy series..needs the whole benefit of dry runs, ample film facilities, innumerable scriptwriters. 1968D. Marlowe Mem. Venus Lackey i. 25, I had mentally dry⁓runned the sexual act a thousand times since puberty. 1970New Yorker 10 Oct. 159/1 Since there might be difficulty locating the Commander's home, it would be advisable to make a ‘dry run’ sometime before the call.
1890Hairdressers' Weekly Jrnl. 14 June 383/2 (Advt.), Niagara Foam..an American *dry shampoo..20/- per gallon. 1913Queen 24 May (Advt.), When you want your hair to look extra nice and bright..just treat it to a dry shampoo with..Hair Powder. 1928Ibid. Feb. 271/2 Dry Shampoo. Carbonate of Potash 1 oz. Water 32 ozs. Saponine ½ oz. Industrial Spirit 32 oz. Perfume, as desired. 1966J. S. Cox Dict. Hairdressing 49/2 Dry shampoo. (1) A shampoo in powder form which is applied to the head as a powder, massaged in and then brushed out... (2) A shampoo composed of industrial methylated spirit or isopropyl alcohol and water with the addition of a foaming element such as saponin.
1937Night & Day 1 July 4/2 (Advt.), If you drive a car you'll shave with a Schick *dry shaver. 1963B.S.I. News Feb. 33 This revision will specify the requirements for mains-operated dry shavers.
1722Chamberlayne in Phil. Trans. XXXII. 161 A kind of Tumor..as the *Dry-sheerers, or those who dress Cloth, have upon their left Hands.
1954Springfield (Mass.) Daily News 10 Nov. 22 The *dry ski class..will begin tonight. 1957Times 25 Nov. 11/4 Dry-ski schools which help muscles to become more flexible and teach beginners the basic movements.
1958A. Hocking Epitaph for Nurse xi. 197 Taking a gravelly sharp corner at an almost reckless speed she got into a *dry skid. 1961I. Fleming Thunderball ii. 23 The Bentley dry⁓skidded to a stop in the gravel.
1701C. Wolley Jrnl. In N.Y. (1860) 39 If the Blubber be not fat and free, the Whale is call'd a *Dry-Skin.
1887*Dry spell [see spell n.3 5 b]. 1920British Rainfall 1919 27 A Dry Spell is a period of fifteen or more consecutive days no one of which is a ‘Wet Day’. 1961Amer. Speech XXXVI. 267 A sharp distinction is observed in Colorado between the relatively long drouth and the relatively short dry spell.
1864A. J. Warden Linen Trade v. i. 697 Wet spinning differs chiefly from..*dry spinning in having the spinning frame furnished with a receptacle for holding water. 1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 177/2 Dry spinning, flax may be spun wet or dry, the latter giving a softer and more spongy yarn. 1921T. Woodhouse tr. Foltzer's Artif. Silk iv. 23 Spinning with the aid of water,..has been replaced by a system of dry spinning. 1957Textile Terms & Defs. (Textile Inst.) (ed. 3) 94 Dry spinning is the process in which a solution of the polymer is extruded into a heated chamber to remove the solvent, leaving the solid filament. Ibid. 39 Dry-spun. 1963A. J. Hall Textile Sci. ii. 75 Solutions which can be dry spun—that is, into warm air to evaporate off the solvent and leave solidified filaments behind.
c1702C. Fiennes Through Eng. on Side-Saddle (1888) ii. iii. 83 You scarce see a tree and No hedges all over y⊇ Country, only *dry stone walls. 1816Scott Old Mort. i. note, Called by the vulgar a dry-stane dyke. 1878C. R. Conder Tentwork Pal. 312 Siloam—a most disappointing pool with dry-stone walls and a little muddy water.
1955R. & B. Carrier Dive iv. 118 Rubber suits have been designed to protect the diver from the effects of cold water. There are two basic types..the ‘wet suit’ and the ‘*dry suit’. Ibid. 120 The next best thing is..a sealed sheet-rubber dry suit worn with one or more suits of long underwear or wool sweaters underneath. 1971B. Graham Spy Trap xii. 84 Crabb had bought a new black Pirelli dry suit.
1898*Dry-valley [see blind a. 11 c]. 1927C. C. Fagg in Proc. & Trans. Croydon Nat. Hist. Soc. IX. 94 The development of the dry valleys of the Chalk belongs to the more recent phases of the Denudation of the Weald. Ibid. 96 (caption) The Dry Valley Systems. 1961L. D. Stamp Gloss. Geogr. Terms 166/1 The origin of the dry valleys of the Chalk.
1778G. White Let. 3 July in Selborne (1789) i. xli. 236 Lathrœa squamaria, tooth-wort..on the *dry wall opposite Grange-yard. 1828Craven Dial., Dry-wall, a wall without lime. 1873H. Spencer Study Sociol. iii. (1877) 48 A dry wall of the same height and stability. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 450/1 The materials..may be built up alone (dry walling) or with the aid of mortar or hydraulic cement. 1886F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-Bk. 219 Dry-waller. 1914G. Jekyll Colour Schemes for Flower Garden (ed. 3) ix. 86 An earth bank four and a half feet high, dry-walled on both sides. 1922Daily Mail 10 Nov. 8/5 A dry-waller has to be born, not made. So old William told me when I found him dry-walling.
1872J. G. Bourke Jrnl. (MS.) 25 Nov. (D.A.E.), There is a *dry wash on this road. 1926Mulford Hopalong Cassidy's Protégé ix. 110 A bridge spanned a dry-wash, dry most of the year. 1962Bad Lands of Red Deer River (Board of Trade, Alberta) 25 The pieces..are lying scattered at the base of the cliffs or in dry washes where they have been carried by run-off.
Sense 18 b in Dict. becomes 18 c. Add: [A.] [I.] [11.] [a.] Also by extension, abstaining from alcoholic drink, esp. after becoming addicted; having stopped taking an addictive drug.
1941J. Smiley Hash House Lingo 23 Dry, sober. 1968T. Leary Politics of Ecstasy iv. 79 Several independent studies in Canada have found that 50 to 60 percent of alcoholics given one session with LSD stay ‘dry’ for follow-up periods from 6 months to 1 year. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion i. 122 For him to make her mother stay dry he first had to admit she was a lush.
[II.] [18.] b. Of a sound: harsh, discordant, rasping.
1798Wordsworth Peter Bell in Poet. Wks. (1952) II. 351 Once more the Ass did lengthen out More ruefully a deep-drawn shout, The hard dry see-saw of his horrible bray! 1932W. Faulkner Light in August i. 5 A series of dry sluggish reports carrying for a half mile across the hot still pinewiney silence of the August afternoon. 1987P. Lively Moon Tiger xi. 134 The dry squeak of chalk on school blackboards.
[C.] 3. dry sink N. Amer. (Hist.), a counter-height furniture cabinet with an inset sink or basin which is not connected to a water supply.
1946Hobbies Oct. 74/3 (Advt.), Vermont pine *dry sink to be used as a cellaret or fernery. 1959L. Gross Housewives' Guide to Antiques vii. 71 Dry sinks, made as late as the 1890's..are usually of pine, the sink part sometimes found lined with tin. 1987N.Y. Times 8 Mar. xxiii. 14/6 Mr. Frajola's auctions are not usually filled with the folks who could be found hunting for a bargain umbrella stand or dry sink.
dry slope, an artificial ski slope used esp. for training or out-of-season practice.
[1963Ski-ing (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) (ed. 2) 3 Some schools recommend a course which starts with dry ski lessons and ends with instruction on a plastic slope.] 1974H. Evans et al. We learned to Ski i. 44/2 Beginners who have been on the *dry slope may go here. 1987Observer 11 Oct. 56/8 Dry slopes are much better than you might expect, and dry slope skiing is becoming a sport in itself for those unable to get away to the mountains.
dry wall, (b) N. Amer. (now usu. drywall) = plasterboard n.; freq. attrib.
1950Better Homes & Gardens (U.S.) Nov. 42/1 ‘Dry-wall’ construction is a comparatively new term. It is a way to finish interior walls with dry materials. 1965Pop. Mechanics Apr. 162/1 The most common use of drywall—also called gypsum wallboard and plasterboard—is in finishing a new room. 1980Family Handyman Sept. 49/3 Cut out a small opening in the center of the outline with a drywall saw.
▸ dry-fried adj. (of food) (originally) fried in just enough oil to prevent food sticking to the pan; (now usually) fried without adding oil or fat to the pan.
1941N.Y. Times 5 Jan. x. 10/2 They usually offer some specialty, ‘chicken-in-the-rough’, which is *dry-fried chicken to be eaten with the fingers. 1998N. Lawson How to Eat (1999) 197 When I want to eat properly but in a hurry, I lunch on grilled trout, dry-fried herring, or mackerel fillets with pickled ginger and soy sauce.
▸ dry-fry v. trans. (originally) to fry (food) in just enough oil to prevent food sticking to the pan; (now usually) to fry (food) without adding oil or fat to the pan.
1930 dry-cleaning adj. and n. at Compounds 2b1979N.Y. Times 19 Dec. c6/3 Place the marinade ingredients in a dry wok. Turn heat to medium and *dry fry the spices for about five minutes. 1982Life (Nexis) June 67 Heat the wok, add the peppercorns and dry-fry about 30 seconds until they swell and become fragrant. 1998BBC Good Food Sept. 64/2 Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and cinnamon into the pan and dry fry, stirring occasionally, until toasted and crisp.
▸ dry-frying n. (originally) frying in just enough oil to prevent food sticking to the pan; (now usually) frying food without adding oil or fat to the pan.
1930Cookery & Catering Man. (Brit. Red Cross Soc.) (ed. 2) iii. 36 *Dry frying, or cooking in just enough fat to cover the bottom of the frying pan. 1952N.Y. Times 17 Feb. 65 (advt.), Vital facts you must know about easy reducing!.. New method of ‘dry frying’. Eat as much without adding calories. 1982Life (Nexis) June 67 The stuff of Sichuan kitchens is familiar to Western cooks, and the techniques are the basic and easily mastered Chinese methods of stir-frying, dry-frying, steaming and poaching. 1999Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 18 Apr. 5, I smoked the pork..instead of using the usual dry-frying or grilling method.
▸ dry garden n. a garden designed to require little or no watering, typically containing ornamental rocks and stones or plants which thrive in dry conditions.
1959S. Sitwell Bridge Brocade Sash v. 100 We saw another small garden attributed to Sô-ami, in two portions, a moss garden and a *dry garden. 1999BBC Gardeners' World Apr. 148/3 The formal areas of this Surrey garden include extensive herbaceous borders, a modern-rose garden, a range of alpines and a dry garden.
▸ dry hump n. coarse slang (orig. U.S.) = dry fuck n. at Compounds 3.
1972National Lampoon Apr. 33/1 Oh, I figure to get *dry humps about half the time. You gotta have space, though, like a sofa or on the beach. 1988Playboy Aug. 43 Men can have sex on a dance floor with their clothes on grinding up against each other. The old dry hump as it were. 1997OC Weekly (Nexis) 30 May 28 I'm doing the dry-hump cha-cha against her thigh just seconds, however, before she has me figured out.
▸ dry-hump v. coarse slang (orig. U.S.) trans. to simulate sexual intercourse with; also occas. intr.; cf. dry hump n. at Additions.
1964J. Pearl Stockade v. 47 Larkin..flipped open the mattress. The gray..cover was stained... Think of all..the horny bastards who have *dry-humped it. 1972National Lampoon Apr. 33/1 You gotta have space, though, like a sofa or on the beach. You can't dry hump good in the car. 1991Vanity Fair Oct. 275/2, I heard him referred to as the Presser, because he'd push girls into the corner and then press up against them. He would, to be crude about it, dry-hump people. 2001Premiere June 96/1 Be sure to check out the Gag Reel, wherein Affleck moons the camera and dry-humps Paltrow.
▸ dry-humping n.
1970D. Wakefield All Way 143 It rated right along with *dry-humping. 1991Quarterly (U.S.) Summer 104 We call this dry humping when we do it in school!
▪ II. dry, n.
Forms: see prec.
[subst. use of prec.]
1. a. Dry state or condition, esp. of the atmosphere; dryness, drought. With the: the dry season (chiefly Austral. colloq.).
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 123 He..þoleð his unwille hwile druie and hwile wete. a1300Cursor M. 6365 (Gött.) For na drie ne for na wate Ne changid þai neuer þair state. 1377Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 216 Thei dredde nother tempest, druyȝe nor wete. 1414Brampton Penit. Ps. lxxviii, For dry myn herte to gydere is runne. 1480Caxton Descr. Brit. 5 With colde ne with hete, with weet ne with drye. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth vi. (1723) 272 Successions of Heat and Cold, Wet and Dry. 1870Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 279 At end of dry He cut his hay, to lie long in the rain. 1877R. F. Burton in Athenæum 3 Nov. 568/3 Dead water during the dries, and a lake with two outlets after the annual rains. 1897[see wet a. 2 f]. 1908Mrs. A. Gunn We of Never-Never vii. 88, I—I—thought you'd reckon that travellers' water for the Dry came before your rooms. 1938X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) vii. 74 The Dry! the good old Dry—when the grasses yellowed, browned, died to tinder. 1955J. Cleary Justin Bayard xi. 172 Thinking of coming down there later in the Dry. 1968K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 35 As the dry progressed and the heat remained constant, they stopped breeding.
†b. Thirst: cf. dry a. 3. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 50 Ete þis whan þe hungreth, Or whan þow..clyngest for drye. c1460Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 313, I dy nere for dry.
2. That which is dry.
a. spec. dry land. in the dry: on, or as on, dry land; not under water.
a1300Cursor M. 383 Þe dri [he] cald erth. 1382Wyclif Ps. xciv[xcv]. 5 Of hym is the se, and he made it; and the drie his hondis formeden. 1784Cowper Task ii. 56 When did the waves so haughtily o'erleap Their ancient barriers, deluging the dry? 1871G. Macdonald Sonn. conc. Jesus vi, When God said, ‘Let the Dry appear!’
b. Austral. A desert area; waterless country.
1909Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Jan., A seventy-five mile dry. 1938Observer 30 Oct. 11/4 The swaggie's..billy-can..is carried full of water, so that if ‘on the wallaby’ over a long stretch of ‘the dry’ (waterless country) he can..be sure of his..‘billy tea’.
c. A dry wine, cocktail, etc. (see dry a. 8).
1953A. Upfield Murder must Wait xxiii. 205 We settled for a half bottle of gin and a few bottles of dry. 1958‘J. Welcome’ Run for Cover vi. 108 ‘Good evening, Herbert. A ‘Dry’ please.’.. Herbert's dry martinis..were as pale as ice.
3. A drying-place, or drying-house.
1876J. H. Collins in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 5 May 568/1 The floor or ‘pan’ of the dry is composed of fire-clay tiles. 1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 1/2 It is transferred to the drying-house or ‘dry’.
4. Masonry. ‘A fissure in a stone, intersecting it at various angles to its bed, and rendering it unfit to support a load’ (Ogilvie).
1825Jamieson, Dry (in a stone), a flaw. Aberd.
5. a. A prohibitionist; a person who opposes the use of alcoholic liquors. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1888in A. Randall-Diehl 2,000 Words & Defs. 1896Chicago Record 11 Feb. 6/5 Even though there might be some precincts where the ‘wets’ outnumbered the ‘drys’—yet the whole county would go dry. 1920Eye Opener (Calgary) 7 Feb. 1/3 The drys cannot pretend much longer that Alberta is ‘prohibition’. 1930Daily Express 6 Nov. 2/1 An active ‘Dry’. 1965Wodehouse Galahad at Blandings i. 13 The woman who runs the school is a rabid Dry and won't let her staff so much as look at a snifter. 1970Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 610/2 The ‘drys’ assumed a considerable degree of power within both the Democratic and Republican parties.
b. Pol. slang. A politician (esp. a member of the Conservative party) who advocates economic stringency and individual responsibility, and uncompromisingly opposes high government spending. Contrasted with wet n.1 6.
1983[see wet n.1 6]. 1984Times 16 Oct. 25/2 It is hard to see economic dries such as Mr. Ridley buying the channel tunnel arguments now. 1987Sunday Tel. 19 July 20/7 For ten years the Tory party has been split between Wets and Dries.
6. a. The process of drying.
1957Economist 16 Nov. 579 (Advt.), Soft, dry towelling that gives you a good, clean dry every single time.
b. Theatr. The act of ‘drying up’ on the stage (see dry v. 5 d and 2 d).
1945M. Agate Madame Sarah ii. 22 She..adopted the English custom of the stage-manager keeping an eye on the book from the prompt-corner in case of a ‘dry’. 1960News Chron. 14 Oct. 10/6 When no spark is struck..the effect is as embarrassing as a theatrical ‘dry’.
▪ III. dry, v.|draɪ|
Pa. tense and pple. dried |draɪd|. Forms: 1 drýᵹean, 2–4 driȝe(n, 3 (Orm.) driȝȝenn, 3–4 druye(n, 4 druiȝe, drue, dreiȝe, dri, 4–6 drey, drye, 4–7 drie, 5– dry (inflexions dries, drieth, drying). pa. tense 1 dryᵹde, driᵹde, 3–5 dride, 4 dreide, dreyede, druyde, 5 dryed(e, 4– dried. pa. pple. 1 ᵹedriᵹed, 3 (Orm.) driȝȝedd, 4–5 dreyed, 4–8 dryed, 6–7 dride, 7 dryde, 7–8 dry'd, 6– dried; (β. 7 drien).
[OE. drýᵹ(e)an, dríᵹean, f. drýᵹe dry a.]
1. a. trans. To make dry (e.g. by wiping, rubbing, exposure to heat or air, draining, etc.); to rid, deprive, or exhaust of moisture; to desiccate.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §13 Se hata sumor dryᵹþ and ᵹearwaþ sæd and bleda. c1000Ags. Gosp. John xi. 2 And driᵹde [Hatton G. dreide] his fet mid hyre loccon. c1200Ormin 8625 Forr þatt te land wass driȝȝedd all And scorrcnedd þurrh þe druhhþe. a1300Cursor M. 14011 Sco..þan þam dries wit hir hare. c1400Mandeville (1839) iii. 19 Thei dryen it at the Sonne. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. (E.E.T.S.) 76 Þes þynges dryes and feblys þe body. a1500Flower & Leaf (R.), To dry their clothes yt were wringing weat. 1549–62Sternhold & H. Ps. cxix. 313 As a skin bottel in the smoke, So am I partcht and dride. 1626Bacon Sylva §56 After it be dryed a little before the Fire. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 206 They should be dry'd in the Shade. 1726Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. I. 25/1 Wood thus dry'd..acquires a Hardness..by which means they think it is better dried. 1848Dickens Dombey v, Mrs. Chick was yet drying her eyes.
b. To remove or abstract (water or moisture); to wipe away, cause to evaporate, or drain off.
c1350Barlam & Josaphat (Bodl. MS.) 867 Whan þu myȝt heuin areche wit þin hond, and dreyȝe þe water of þe se. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 113 Faste by the brook þat he dreyede [v.r. druyde]. 1551Crowley Pleas. & Pain 482 Christe doeth drye all teares from the oppressedis eye. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. vii. 197 The Water..was now dried away. 1798Canning New Morality 89 in Anti-Jacobin 9 July (1852) 204 Not she, who dries The orphan's tears. 1842Tennyson Audley Court 45 Till all his juice is dried, and all his joints Are full of chalk.
c. absol. To dry crockery, cutlery, etc., after washing up.
1935A. J. Cronin Stars look Down i. viii. 59 ‘Shall I dry for you, mother?’ She shook her head, dried the dishes herself. 1949D. Smith I capture Castle x. 166 Neil and Simon helped with the washing up... Ivy washed and we all dried. 1967G. North Sgt. Cluff & Day of Reckoning vi. 51 She piled dishes into his hands to be carried to the kitchen: ‘It'll save time if you dry for me.’
2. a. intr. To become dry; to lose or be exhausted of moisture; to cease to yield a supply of liquid.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 155 Sum of þe sed ful uppe þe ston and dride þere. a1300Cursor M. 310 (Cott.) He is welle þat neuer sal dri. c1340Ibid. 8768 (Trin.) Þe tre..for elde bigon to driȝe. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 267 His armes driede and wax al drye. c1420Pallad. on Husb. I. 363 The see grauel is lattest for to drye. 1538Lyndesay Agst. Syde Taillis 75 In Somer quhen the streittis dryis. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 259 The Morter doth not Cement..when it dries hastily. 1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4114/4 It [a sandbank] drys at Low-Water. 1870C. F. Gordon Cumming in Gd. Words 138/2 Masses of apricots spread out to dry in the sun.
b. Of water or moisture: To disappear or pass away by evaporation, absorption, or draining.
c1325Old Age ii. in Reliq. Ant. II. 210 Moch me anueþ þat mi drivil druiþ. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 197 If þou waisschist hise lymes in watir, anoon riȝt it wole drie yn. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 143 Great flouds haue flowne..and great Seas haue dried. 1648Gage West Ind. 109 The unctuous part will dry away.
c. to dry straight: to come right eventually. colloq.
1897W. J. Locke Derelicts xxii, I shall miss you terribly—at first—but it will all dry straight, Yvonne. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xxvi. 278 Cheer up, Joseph. Things will dry straight one of these days.
d. Suddenly to forget or fail to speak one's words in a play or other performance. colloq.
1934N.Y. Herald Tribune 2 Sept. vii. 10/2 Thumbing the pages for certain theatrical terms, we find..fluff (but not dry or dry up). 1941Brahms & Simon No Bed for Bacon xxi. 253 I'm sorry I dried at the beginning. 1953L. A. G. Strong Hill of Howth i. 8 A colleague of mine once dried in the middle of a scene. 1955J. Coates Linda xv. 170 She dried in the middle of a speech. Beryl prompted her and she went on. 1967M. Shulman Kill Three iii. viii. 147 ‘O.K., Allan,’ said the director into his microphone. ‘If she fluffs badly or dries we'll go straight to Three.’
e. to dry down: of paint, to become dry.
1958Listener 28 Aug. 323/1 Some complain that the jelly paints..dry down with a poor gloss. 1959Ibid. 9 Apr. 651/1 The oil-based paints..may dry down with a patchy finish on standard hardboard.
†3. intr. To be thirsty, to thirst. Obs.
In ME. also impers. me drieth; cf. hunger.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 25 And drink whon þou druiȝest [B. dryest: v.rr. þe driȝeþ, ȝow drieth]. a1541Wyatt Poet. Wks. (1861) 117 For thirst to death I dry.
4. a. trans. To render (a cow, etc.) ‘dry’; to exhaust or stop the secretion of milk in. b. intr. To become ‘dry’, cease to give milk.
1780A. Young Tour Irel. (Nat. Lib. Ed.) 116 All have cows, and when they dry them, buy others. 1797J. Downing Disord. Horned Cattle 87 The following medicine may be given to any cow you wish to dry. 1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. III. 76 The thicker milk of those which were beginning to dry. 1828Craven Dial. s.v., ‘It's time to dry the cow, shoe gives lile milk’. 1894Times 6 Mar. 4/2 A few farmers report that they cannot dry off their cows.
c. dry out. intr. Of a drug-addict: to undergo a course of treatment designed to break dependence on the drug; of an alcoholic: to undergo a similar course of systematic disintoxication. Also trans., to cure (a drug addict or an alcoholic) in this way. So dry-out n.; drying-out vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1967Guardian 8 Feb. 7/3 They are not only making firmer contact with the addicts..but also giving some of those they have ‘dried out’ a purpose. Ibid. 7/5 The painful process of the detoxification ward, the ‘dry-out’. 1969New Scientist 13 Mar. 554/1 The removal of alcohol from the blood by using the artificial kidney may be found to be the safest (and cheapest) way of ‘drying out’ alcoholics in a state of acute intoxication. 1969Maclean's Aug. 55/2 Too often a drinker ‘dries out’ and his case is closed. 1970R. Haughton Love v. 143 A boy or girl would be pulled through a ‘bad patch’ (and the ‘patches’ of a drug-addict ‘drying out’ are very bad indeed). 1970E. Tidyman Shaft (1971) iii. 41 By eight, she had undergone..the drying-out procedure in private institutions. 1971Daily Tel. 2 Mar. 2 Drunks arrested by police in future may have to spend a compulsory three days in a ‘drying out’ centre.
5. dry up. trans.
a. To suck, draw, or take up (liquid or moisture) entirely, as is done by the sun or with a cloth or the like.
b. To exhaust (anything) of its moisture; to render quite dry; to desiccate. (Chiefly in pass.) Also absol. = sense 1 c above.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 775 Thisbe, Phebus..Hadde dreyed up the dew of erbis wete. 1484Caxton Curiall 1 The grace of humanyte is not dreyed vp in the. 1552Huloet, Dryed vp to be, as a cowe or yewe that goeth gelde or foremilch and geueth no mylke. 1563W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 63 b, Chalke is an earth by heate concocted..and dried up. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 105 In Summer it [Jordan] is almost drien up. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 197 The sharp Easterly..Winds transpierce, and dry them [tulips] up. 1804Ann. Rev. II. 81/1 One fertile source of information was dried up. 1850McCosh Div. Govt. iii. ii. (1874) 407 The amazon..had her breast dried up that she might fight the more fiercely. 1871R. H. Hutton Ess. (1877) I. 18 Theoretic atheism dries up the sources of personal affection. [1932S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm vii. 92 She..flicked the reminders of dinner off the table with Adam's drying-up towel.] 1959House & Garden Dec. 34/1 (heading) D for drying-up Essentially the masculine task. 1962I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose ii. 28, I was just wondering if he'd mind drying up while we're at church. 1966‘K. Nicholson’ Hook, Line & Sinker ix. 101 He seemed preoccupied while drying-up.
c. intr. Of water or moisture: To disappear entirely as by evaporation. Of a source: To cease to yield liquid, to become quite dry.
1535Coverdale Job xii. 15 Beholde, yf he witholde the waters, they drye vp. 1604Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 60 The Fountaine from the which my currant runnes, Or else dries vp. 1726Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. II. 104/1 Springs..which have dryed up. 1842Tennyson Two Voices 268 The sap dries up: the plant declines.
d. intr. (slang or colloq.) To stop the flow of words, cease talking; also gen. to stop, cease. spec. = sense 2 d above (cf. quot. 18842). Also trans., to cause (someone) to forget his words in a play or the like.
1853San Francisco Comm. Advertiser 9 Dec. 2/4 She defied his Honor..and giving assurance of a disposition never to ‘dry up’, was carried down below to cool off. 1864in Webster. 1865The Index 2 Feb. (Farmer), With which modest contribution we dry up with reference to the subject. 1884Cornh. Mag. June 617 (ibid.) Dry up!..the slangy..exclamation with which he cuts short..attempts of his mother to lecture him. 1884G. Moore Mummer's Wife (1887) 179 No matter how well you knew your words, you'd dry up when you got before the footlights. 1892Stevenson Vailima Lett. xxiv. (1895) 231 The rain begins..and I will do the reverse and dry up. 1923N.Y. Times 9 Sept. vii. 2/1 Dry a man up, to give the wrong cue, or to say something aside to disconcert a fellow-actor, and so cause him to dry up. 1928F. Scott Fitzgerald in Sat. Even. Post 21 July 8/3 ‘Oh, dry up!’ retorted Basil. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage iii. 34 When an actor fails to remember his lines and the scene comes to an unpremeditated stop he ‘dries up’. Ibid. 36 We didn't dry up! No, we kept that scene going! 1934H. N. Rose Thes. Slang xii. 83/2 What's the idea of trying to dry me up in the last number? 1967Times 10 May 3/8 (headline) Insurance to stop actor ‘drying up’. 1969Listener 31 July 140/3 Why is the advertising drying up? Who has stopped (or never even started) advertising in these six?
▪ IV. dry
obs. form of dree. |