Adjective and noun from Middle English drye, dryge, drüȝe, from Old English drȳġe, from Proto-West Germanic *drūgī, *draugī, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz, *draugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ-, from *dʰer- ("to hold, support").

• enPR: drī, IPA: /dɹaɪ/, [d͡ʒɹaɪ̯], [d̠͡ɹ̠˔aɪ̯], [d̠͡ɹ̠˔ʷaɪ̯]

dry (comparative dryer, superlative dryest)

1. 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?

   • 1716 March 16 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 22. Monday, March 5. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC ↗:

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

   • 1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC ↗:

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

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

   Hyponym: non-milch

   This well is as dry as that cow.

3. (masonry) Built without or lacking mortar.
   • 1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The Gathering of the Clouds”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC ↗, page 247 ↗:

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

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

   Dry alcohol is 200 proof.

5. (figurative) Athirst, eager.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:

     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.

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

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene v]:

     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. (law) 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.

8. Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness, particularly:
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC ↗:

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

   1. (wine & other alcoholic beverages, ginger ale) Low in sugar; lacking sugar; unsweetened.

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

   2. (humor) 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.

   3. Lacking interest, boring.

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

      • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene v]:

        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 […]

   4. (poker) 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!.

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

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

10. (science, somewhat pejorative) Involving computations rather than work with biological or chemical matter.
11. (of a sound recording) Free from applied audio effects (especially reverb).
12. Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent.

    never dry fire a bow

    dry humping her girlfriend

    making a dry run

    • 1958, Gordon Grimley, The Book of the Bow, page 167:

      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.

    • 1992, Pennsylvania Game News, volume 63, page 57:

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

    1. Of a bite from an animal: not containing the usual venom.
13. (Christianity) Of a mass, service, or rite: involving neither consecration nor communion.
14. (Singapore, of noodles) Mixed with sauce and not served in a soup.

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

• (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

• French: sec
• German: trocken
• Italian: secco, asciutto
• Portuguese: seco
• Russian: сухо́й
• Spanish: seco

• French: anhydre
• Portuguese: seco
• Russian: сухо́й

• German: trocken

dry (plural drys)

1. The process by which something is dried.

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

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.

   Come under my umbrella and keep in the dry.

4. (chiefly, Australia, with "the") The dry season.
5. (Australia) An area of waterless country.
6. Unsweetened ginger ale; dry ginger.
   • 1968, Bee Gees, “Indian Gin And Whiskey Dry”, in Idea(album)‎:

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

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.

   Antonyms: wet

dry (dries, present participle drying; simple past and past participle dried)

1. (intransitive) To lose moisture.

   The clothes dried on the line.

2. (transitive) To remove moisture from.

   Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief.

3. (transitive, figurative) To exhaust; to cause to run dry.
4. (intransitive, informal, theatre) For an actor to forget their lines while performing.

• French: sécher
• German: trocknen
• Italian: asciugarsi, rinsecchire, essiccare, inaridire
• Portuguese: secar
• Russian: со́хнуть
• Spanish: secarse

• French: sécher, faire sécher
• German: trocknen, abtrocknen
• Italian: asciugare, seccare
• Portuguese: secar, enxugar
• Russian: суши́ть
• Spanish: secar, enjugar

dry (comparative dryer, superlative dryest)

1. (software engineering) Of code, having the quality of adhering to the principle of DRY; containing as little repetition as possible.

   Antonyms: WET

dry (dries, present participle drying; simple past and past participle dried)

1. (software engineering) To cause code to become DRY; to remove repetition from code.

1. Surname.