DRY, a. [See the Verb.]

1. Destitute of moisture; free from water or wetness; arid; not moist; as, dry land; dry clothes.
2. Not rainy; free from rain or mist; as, dry weather; a dry March or April.
3. Not juicy; free from juice, sap, or aqueous matter; not green; as, dry wood; dry stubble; dry hay; dry leaves.
4. Without tears; as, dry eyes; dry mourning. – Dryden.
5. Not giving milk; as, the cow is dry.
6. Thirsty; craving drink.
7. Barren; jejune; plain; unembellished; destitute of pathos, or of that which amuses and interests; as, a dry style; a dry subject; a dry discussion.
8. Severe sarcastic; wiping; as, a dry remark or repartee; a dry rub. – Goodman.
9. Severe; wiping; as, a dry blow; a dry basting. See the Verb, which signifies properly to wipe, rub, scour. – Bacon. Dry goods, in commerce, cloths, stuffs, silks, laces, ribins, &c., in distinction from groceries.

1. To grow dry; to lose moisture; to become free from moisture or juice. The road dries fast in a clear windy day. Hay will dry sufficiently in two days.
2. To evaporate wholly; to be exhaled; sometimes with up; as, the stream dries or dries up.

1. To free from water, or from moisture of any kind, and by any means; originally by wiping, as to dry the eyes; to exsiccate.
2. To deprive of moisture by evaporation or exhalation; as, the sun dries a cloth; wind dries the earth.
3. To deprive of moisture by exposure to the sun or open air. We dry cloth in the sun.
4. To deprive of natural juice, sap or greenness; as, to dry hay or plants.
5. To scorch or parch with thirst; with up. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. – Isa. v.
6. To deprive of water by draining; to drain; to exhaust; as, to dry a meadow. To dry up, to deprive wholly of water.

1. Free from moisture; having little humidity or none; arid; not wet or moist; deficient in the natural or normal supply of moisture, as rain or fluid of any kind; -- said especially: (a) Of the weather: Free from rain or mist.
   
   

   The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the season. Addison.

   (b)

2. To grow dry; to become free from wetness, moisture, or juice; as, the road dries rapidly.
3. To make dry; to free from water, or from moisture of any kind, and by any means; to exsiccate; as, to dry the eyes; to dry one's tears; the wind dries the earth; to dry a wet cloth; to dry hay.
   
   

   To dry up. (a) To scorch or parch with thirst; to deprive utterly of water; to consume.

   Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Is. v. 13.

   The water of the sea, which formerly covered it, was in time exhaled and dried up by the sun. Woodward.

   (b) To make to cease, as a stream of talk.

   Their sources of revenue were dried up. Jowett (Thucyd. )

   -- To dry, or dry up, a cow, to cause a cow to cease secreting milk. Tylor.

4. Destitute of that which interests or amuses; barren; unembellished; jejune; plain.
   
   

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

5. To evaporate wholly; to be exhaled; -- said of moisture, or a liquid; -- sometimes with up; as, the stream dries, or dries up.
6. Characterized by a quality somewhat severe, grave, or hard; hence, sharp; keen; shrewd; quaint; as, a dry tone or manner; dry wit.
   
   

   He was rather a dry, shrewd kind of body. W. Irving.

7. To shrivel or wither; to lose vitality.
   
   

   And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. I Kings xiii. 4.

8. Exhibiting a sharp, frigid preciseness of execution, or the want of a delicate contour in form, and of easy transition in coloring.
   
   

   Dry area (Arch.), a small open space reserved outside the foundation of a building to guard it from damp. -- Dry blow. (a) (Med.) A blow which inflicts no wound, and causes no effusion of blood. (b) A quick, sharp blow. -- Dry bone (Min.), Smithsonite, or carbonate of zinc; -- a miner's term. -- Dry castor (Zoöl.) a kind of beaver; -- called also parchment beaver. -- Dry cupping. (Med.) See under Cupping. - - Dry dock. See under Dock. -- Dry fat. See Dry vat (below). -- Dry light, pure unobstructed light; hence, a clear, impartial view. Bacon.

   The scientific man must keep his feelings under stern control, lest they obtrude into his researches, and color the dry light in which alone science desires to see its objects. J. C. Shairp.

   -- Dry masonry. See Masonry. -- Dry measure, a system of measures of volume for dry or coarse articles, by the bushel, peck, etc. -- Dry pile (Physics), a form of the Voltaic pile, constructed without the use of a liquid, affording a feeble current, and chiefly useful in the construction of electroscopes of great delicacy; -- called also Zamboni's , from the names of the two earliest constructors of it. -- Dry pipe (Steam Engine), a pipe which conducts dry steam from a boiler. -- Dry plate (Photog.), a glass plate having a dry coating sensitive to light, upon which photographic negatives or pictures can be made, without moistening. -- Dry-plate process, the process of photographing with dry plates. -- Dry point. (Fine Arts) (a) An engraving made with the needle instead of the burin, in which the work is done nearly as in etching, but is finished without the use acid. (b) A print from such an engraving, usually upon paper. (c) Hence: The needle with which such an engraving is made. -- Dry rent (Eng. Law), a rent reserved by deed, without a clause of distress. Bouvier. -- Dry rot, a decay of timber, reducing its fibers to the condition of a dry powdery dust, often accompanied by the presence of a peculiar fungus (Merulius lacrymans), which is sometimes considered the cause of the decay; but it is more probable that the real cause is the decomposition of the wood itself. D. C. Eaton. Called also sap rot, and, in the United States, powder post. Hebert. -- Dry stove, a hothouse adapted to preserving the plants of arid climates. Brande *** C. -- Dry vat, a vat, basket, or other receptacle for dry articles. -- Dry wine, that in which the saccharine matter and fermentation were so exactly balanced, that they have wholly neutralized each other, and no sweetness is perceptible] -- opposed to sweet wine, in which the saccharine matter is in excess.