dry up

British  

verb

1. (intr) to become barren or unproductive; fail

   in middle age his inspiration dried up

2. to dry (dishes, cutlery, etc) with a tea towel after they have been washed

3. informal (intr) to stop talking or speaking

   when I got on the stage I just dried up

   dry up!

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dry up Idioms  

1. Gradually become unproductive, as in After two collections of short stories, his ability to write fiction dried up . Also see well's run dry .

2. Stop talking; also, cause to stop talking. For example, Dry up! You've said enough . [ Slang ; mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

Ever since the city built a new marina on the north side of the lake, people stopped coming down here, and business dried up.

From Literature

Volume has dried up as shoppers trade down to store brands or reach for a GLP-1 prescription instead of a snack.

From The Wall Street Journal

Subprime, by fueling a massive loosening of credit, became a key driver of housing, and when subprime lending dried up, that killed the housing market and the broader economy.

From The Wall Street Journal

But it has raised concerns about burdening Louisiana electricity customers with the higher costs of additional energy infrastructure, especially if demand from Meta eventually dries up, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

From The Wall Street Journal

As borrowing costs started moving higher, liquidity started drying up fast — pushing funds to cut their leverage.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• abate
• curb
• curtail
• cut down
• decline
• depreciate
• deteriorate
• diminish
• drop
• drop off
• dwindle
• ease
• ebb
• fall off
• lessen
• lower
• reduce
• shrink
• sink
• slacken