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

After as much as a week of hands-on building time, he lets the work air-dry for maybe another week before it is ready to be fired.

From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2024

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

Let the sieve air-dry on the counter for best results, since a towel probably won't be able to get to all the water in the small holes of your sieve.

From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2022

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

With a campaign dubbed “Flip the Switch,” the Netherlands’ government is urging showers of no more than five minutes, using sun shades and fans instead of air conditioning, and air-drying laundry.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2022

And although air-drying your clothes using a rack or line is the most energy-efficient method, you might not have the space to do that.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 28, 2022

Janssen, which makes the single-dose Covid vaccine approved for use in the UK by the medicines regulator last month, is already working on a pilot project designed to analyse the Ziccum's air-drying capabilities.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 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