dry

English Online Dictionary. What means dry‎? What does dry mean?

English

Alternative forms

• drie (obsolete)

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: drī, IPA^(key): /dɹaɪ/, [d͡ʒɹaɪ̯], [d̠͡ɹ̠˔aɪ̯], [d̠͡ɹ̠˔ʷaɪ̯]
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Adjective

dry (comparative drier or dryer, superlative driest or dryest)

1. Free from or lacking moisture.
3. Unable to produce a liquid, as water, (petrochemistry) oil, or (agriculture) milk.

   Hyponym: non-milch

4. (masonry) Built without or lacking mortar.
5. (chemistry) Anhydrous: free from or lacking water in any state, regardless of the presence of other liquids.

6. (figurative) Athirst, eager.
7. Free from or lacking alcohol or alcoholic beverages.
8. (law) Describing an area where sales of alcoholic or strong alcoholic beverages are banned.

9. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness, particularly:
   1. (wine and other alcoholic beverages, ginger ale) Low in sugar; lacking sugar; unsweetened.
   2. (humor) Amusing without showing amusement.

   3. Lacking interest, boring.
   4. (poker) Of a board or flop: Not permitting the creation of many or of strong hands.

   5. (fine arts) Exhibiting precise execution lacking delicate contours or soft transitions of color.
10. (aviation) Not using afterburners or water injection for increased thrust.

11. (sciences, somewhat derogatory) Involving computations rather than work with biological or chemical matter.
12. (of a sound recording) Free from applied audio effects (especially reverb).
14. Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent.
    1. Of a bite from an animal: not containing the usual venom.
15. (Christianity) Of a mass, service, or rite: involving neither consecration nor communion.
16. (Malaysia, Singapore, of noodles) Mixed with sauce and not served in a soup.

Synonyms

• (free from liquid or moisture): See Thesaurus:dry

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “free from liquid or moisture”): See Thesaurus:wet
• (antonym(s) of “abstinent from or banning alcohol”): wet
• (antonym(s) of “not using afterburners or water injection”): wet
• (antonym(s) of “of a scientist or lab: doing computation”): wet

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: drei

Translations

Noun

dry (plural drys or dries)

1. The process by which something is dried.

2. (US) A prohibitionist (of alcoholic beverages).
   • c. 1952-1996, Noah S. Sweat, quoted in 1996

     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.

4. (chiefly Australia, with "the") The dry season.
5. (Australia) An area of waterless country.
6. Unsweetened ginger ale; dry ginger.
7. (British, UK politics) A radical or hard-line Conservative; especially, one who supported the policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

   Antonym: wet

Verb

dry (third-person singular simple present dries, present participle drying, simple past and past participle dried)

1. (intransitive) To lose moisture.

   Synonyms: dehydrate, desiccate

   Hyponyms: (loosely synonymous) dry out, dry up

2. (transitive) To remove moisture from.

   Synonyms: dehydrate, desiccate

   Hyponyms: (loosely synonymous) dry out, dry up

3. (transitive, figurative) To exhaust; to cause to run dry.

   Synonym: dry up

4. (intransitive, informal, theater) For an actor to forget their lines while performing.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• desiccant
• desiccate
• desiccation

Anagrams

• YRD

Albanian

Alternative forms

• dryn

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *drūna, from the same root as dru. Cognate to Sanskrit द्रुणा (druṇā, “bow”), Persian درونه (“rainbow”).

Noun

dry m (plural dryna, definite dryni, definite plural drynat)

1. lock, bolt

Declension

Related terms

• dru
• drushtë
• ndryj

References

Chinese

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From English dry "lacking interest, boring" or by some interpretation of wet "to go clubbing"?”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɹaːi̯⁵⁵/

Adjective

dry (Hong Kong Cantonese)

1. (of a person) lacking sex or romance

Middle English

Adjective

dry

1. alternative form of drye

Old English

Etymology

Borrowed from a Brythonic language, from Proto-Brythonic *drüw, from Proto-Celtic *druwits (“druid”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dryː/

Noun

drȳ m (nominative plural drȳas)

1. wizard, sorcerer
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Passion of St. Julian and his wife Basilissa"

   • Hīe woldon forbærnan þone drȳ. ― They wanted to burn the wizard. (Ælfric’s Homilies, volume 1.)

Declension

Strong a-stem:

Derived terms

• drȳcræft
• drȳeċġe

Descendants

• Middle English: dri, driȝ, dry
  • ⇒ Middle English: driȝmann, driȝmenn pl

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English dry.

Adjective

dry m or f or n (indeclinable)

1. dry (about drinks)

Declension

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /drɨː/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /driː/

Verb

dry

1. soft mutation of try

Mutation