dry

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Contents

English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English drye, drie, dri, drige, dryge, drüȝe, Old English drȳġe (“dry; parched, withered”), from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz, *draugiz (“dry, hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to hold, support”). Cognate with Scots dry, drey (“dry”), North Frisian drüg, driig, drüüg, dröög, drüch (“dry”), Saterland Frisian druuch (“dry”), West Frisian droech (“dry”), Dutch droog (“dry”), Low German dreuge, drög, drege, dree (“dry”), German trocken (“dry”), Icelandic draugur (“a dry log”). Related also to 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.

Alternative forms [edit]

Adjective [edit]

dry (comparative drier, superlative driest or dryest)

  1. Free from liquid or moisture.
    Could you hand me a dry towel?
    My throat feels itchy and dry.
    Cover the chicken as it bakes or it'll get too dry.
  2. (chemistry) Free of water in any state; anhydrous
    Dry alcohol is 200 proof.
  3. (of an alcoholic beverage) Lacking sugar or low in sugar; not sweet.
    I like to take a dry sherry before lunch on Sundays.
  4. Maintaining temperance; void or abstinent from alcoholic beverages.
    A former alcoholic, he's been dry for almost a year now.
    You'll have to drive out of this dry county to find any liquor.
    It was a dry house.
  5. (of a person or joke) Subtly humorous, yet without mirth.
  6. (of a scientist or his laboratory) Not working with chemical or biological matter, but, rather, doing computations.
  7. (masonry) Built without mortar; dry-stone.
    • 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, ISBN 0261102214, page 241:
      [A]lready the gate was blocked with a wall of squared stones laid dry, but very thick and very high, across the opening.
Synonyms [edit]
Antonyms [edit]
  • (free from liquid or moisture): wet
  • (abstinent from alcohol): wet
  • (of a scientist or lab: doing computation): wet
Derived terms [edit]
Terms derived from dry (adjective)
Translations [edit]
free from liquid or moisture
free of water in any state
maintaining temperance
doing computations

Etymology 2 [edit]

From Old English dryġan (“to dry”), from dryġe (“dry”)

Verb [edit]

dry (third-person singular simple present 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.
Derived terms [edit]
See also [edit]
Translations [edit]
to become dry
to make dry

Old English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Celtic *druwis: cognate with Old Irish druí (Irish draoi, Gaelic druidh ‘magician’).

Noun [edit]

drȳ m

  1. a sorcerer or magician
    Hi woldon forbærnan ðone dry. —Ælfric’s Homilies, vol. 1. (‘They would burn the sorceror.’)

Derived terms [edit]

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