bone-dry

American  

[bohn-drahy] / ˈboʊnˈdraɪ /

adjective

1. very dry.

2. very thirsty.

3. Slang. dry.

4. Ceramics. (of clay) thoroughly dried. dry.

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bone-dry British  

adjective

1. informal

   1. completely dry

      a bone-dry well

   2. ( postpositive )

      the well was bone dry

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Etymology

Origin of bone-dry

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

De Angelis and Waltz are also a hoot together, she as a heaving, hissing vampire bride who can’t stop licking her chops, he as a bone-dry vampire hunter dedicated to his investigation.

From Los Angeles Times

“This Is Not About Us” mines excellent, bone-dry humor from the neuroses.

From The Wall Street Journal

None of that happened in the Palisades, with its hilly terrain covered in bone-dry brush, even though the weather service had flagged it as one of the regions at “extreme risk.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s dry but not bone-dry, a wine to please a wide range of palates.

From The Wall Street Journal

But a week later, powerful Santa Ana winds arrived, and coupled with single-digit humidity, they turned the landscape into bone-dry tinder ready to burn.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• arid
• parched
• scorched
• sunbaked