dry up

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word dry up. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word dry up, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say dry up in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word dry up you have here. The definition of the word dry up will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofdry up, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To become dry (often of weather); to lose water.
    I'll go shopping when it dries up.
    Last summer the lake completely dried up.
  2. (transitive) To cause to become dry.
    The heatwave dried up all the rivers.
  3. (intransitive, transitive, intransitive) To manually dry dishes and utensils.
    Synonym: (British) wipe up
    I'll dry up if you wash up.
  4. (transitive) To deprive someone of (something vital).
    The bankruptcy rumor dried up his sales.
  5. (intransitive) To cease to exist; to disappear
    • 2008, Adele, First Love:
      This love has dried up and stayed behind
    When our money dried up, we had to get proper jobs.
  6. (intransitive) To stop talking; to forget what one was going to say.
    This surprised me so much that I dried up for a moment.
  7. (1930s US slang) To shut up or to drop a topic.
    Oh, dry up, you old fuddy-duddy!

Usage notes

  • dry out refers to losing excess water, while dry up is used for losing constituent water (desiccate)

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia