dry.
Free from or lacking moisture.
Meaning & usage
Free from or lacking moisture.
This towel's dry. Could you wet it and cover the chicken so it doesn't go dry as it cooks?
Unable to produce a liquid, as water, (petrochemistry) oil, or (agriculture) milk.
This well is as dry as that cow.
Built without or lacking mortar.
Anhydrous: free from or lacking water in any state, regardless of the presence of other liquids.
Dry alcohol is 200 proof.
Athirst, eager.
Free from or lacking alcohol or alcoholic beverages.
Of course it's a dry house. He was an alcoholic but he's been dry for almost a year now.
Describing an area where sales of alcoholic or strong alcoholic beverages are banned.
You'll have to drive out of this dry county to find any liquor.
Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness, particularly
Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Low in sugar; lacking sugar; unsweetened.
Proper martinis are made with London dry gin and dry vermouth.
Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Amusing without showing amusement.
Steven Wright has a deadpan delivery, Norm Macdonald has a dry sense of humor, and Oscar Wilde had a dry wit.
Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Lacking interest, boring.
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.
Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Of a board or flop: Not permitting the creation of many or of strong hands.
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!.
Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness Exhibiting precise execution lacking delicate contours or soft transitions of color.
Not using afterburners or water injection for increased thrust.
This fighter jet's engine has a maximum dry thrust of 200 kilonewtons.
Involving computations rather than work with biological or chemical matter.
Free from applied audio effects (especially reverb).
Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent.
never dry fire a bow
dry humping her girlfriend
Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent. Of a bite from an animal: not containing the usual venom.
dry bite
In a dry spell (e.g., unemployed, slow).
Things are dry right now. We're hoping business'll pick up next month.
Of a mass, service, or rite: involving neither consecration nor communion.
Mixed with sauce and not served in a soup.
Where this word comes from
Adjective and noun from Middle English drye, dryge, drüȝe, from Old English drȳġe (“dry; parched, withered”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgī, *draugī, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz, *draugiz (“dry, hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, support”). The verb derives from Middle English drien, from Old English drȳġan (“to dry”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgijan, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz (“hard, desiccated, dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“strong, hard, solid”). cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots dry, drey (“dry”), North Frisian drüg, driig, Saterland Frisian druuch (“dry”), West Frisian droech (“dry”), Dutch droog (“dry”), Low German dröög (“dry”), German dröge (“dull”), Icelandic draugur (“a dry log”). Related also to German trocken (“dry”), West Frisian drege (“long-lasting”), Danish drøj (“tough”), Swedish dryg (“lasting, hard”), Icelandic drjúgur (“ample, long”), Latin firmus (“strong, firm, stable, durable”). See also drought, drain, dree.
The process by which something is dried.
This towel is still damp: I think it needs another dry.
A prohibitionist (of alcoholic beverages).
An area with little or no rain, or sheltered from it.
Come under my umbrella and keep in the dry.
The dry season.
An area of waterless country.
Unsweetened ginger ale; dry ginger.
A radical or hard-line Conservative; especially, one who supported the policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
Where this word comes from
Adjective and noun from Middle English drye, dryge, drüȝe, from Old English drȳġe (“dry; parched, withered”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgī, *draugī, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz, *draugiz (“dry, hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, support”). The verb derives from Middle English drien, from Old English drȳġan (“to dry”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgijan, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz (“hard, desiccated, dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“strong, hard, solid”). cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots dry, drey (“dry”), North Frisian drüg, driig, Saterland Frisian druuch (“dry”), West Frisian droech (“dry”), Dutch droog (“dry”), Low German dröög (“dry”), German dröge (“dull”), Icelandic draugur (“a dry log”). Related also to German trocken (“dry”), West Frisian drege (“long-lasting”), Danish drøj (“tough”), Swedish dryg (“lasting, hard”), Icelandic drjúgur (“ample, long”), Latin firmus (“strong, firm, stable, durable”). See also drought, drain, dree.
To lose moisture.
The clothes dried on the line.
The fruit dried in the dehydrator.
To remove moisture from.
Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief.
We dried the fruit in the dehydrator.
To exhaust; to cause to run dry.
For an actor to forget their lines while performing.
Where this word comes from
Adjective and noun from Middle English drye, dryge, drüȝe, from Old English drȳġe (“dry; parched, withered”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgī, *draugī, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz, *draugiz (“dry, hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, support”). The verb derives from Middle English drien, from Old English drȳġan (“to dry”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgijan, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz (“hard, desiccated, dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“strong, hard, solid”). cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots dry, drey (“dry”), North Frisian drüg, driig, Saterland Frisian druuch (“dry”), West Frisian droech (“dry”), Dutch droog (“dry”), Low German dröög (“dry”), German dröge (“dull”), Icelandic draugur (“a dry log”). Related also to German trocken (“dry”), West Frisian drege (“long-lasting”), Danish drøj (“tough”), Swedish dryg (“lasting, hard”), Icelandic drjúgur (“ample, long”), Latin firmus (“strong, firm, stable, durable”). See also drought, drain, dree.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.