air-dry

American  

[air-drahy] / ˈɛərˌdraɪ /

verb (used with or without object)

air-dried, air-drying

1. to dry by exposure to the air.

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adjective

1. dry beyond further evaporation.

air-dry British  

verb

1. (tr) to dry by exposure to the air

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Etymology

Origin of air-dry

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

air-dry air-dried air-drying

And that unopened brick of air-dry clay that’s taunting you?

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 23, 2026

"Always air-dry cushions, as a machine dryer tends to damage or shrink cushion cover materials."

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2022

I cut the cheese and and bolillos into strips, and let them air-dry for a couple of days, like Mami used to do.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2022

Rinse and dry with a paper towel or air-dry.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2021

Alaskan hunters know that the easiest way to preserve meat in the bush is to slice it into thin strips and then air-dry it on a makeshift rack.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

She leads nutrition education at the Feed Real Institute, an online certificate program founded in 2015 by Balaram, who also runs a company that sells air-dried dog treats like bull penis and rabbit feet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

Scouring the movie, I could only find one example of a cultural clash: a woman bringing in a load of air-dried laundry from the snow and struggling to fold a baby onesie that’s frozen stiff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2025

Edwards and Love will apply the findings themselves to the next phase of their own soil research: sequencing thousands of air-dried soils from across the country.

From Science Daily ● May 20, 2024

Samsung advises bringing your device into a service center for inspection even after it’s been air-dried.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 29, 2024

When that process was completed, the ship was slowly air-dried to remove any remaining moisture that had saturated the wood after having been immersed in seawater for so long.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

We involve him in air-drying clothes, and we explain why we must turn off the lights when we are done playing.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 5, 2023

The timbers were taken to an atmospherically controlled dry dock where they were sprayed with a mist of cold water, then water-soluble wax, before an air-drying process began.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2023

Today, those visitors are treated to a full-frontal view of someone’s air-drying drawers, flapping in the breeze on a clothesline hoisted at the center of a growing tent city near the Capitol complex.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 6, 2021

Having a machine always running may not be ideal, but this is the most preferred method in regions with high humidity due to its slower air-drying times.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 2021

The sink-rinsing and air-drying just isn’t the same as a good tumble in a machine.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti