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

For the weather to dry up, this pattern needs to change and a short-lived reprieve may be on the way.

From BBC

Next morning, as things started to dry up, the sheriff saw those books and bottles floating in the river and figured Upton was floating there too.

From Literature

To their horror, the creek dwindled to a trickle, then dried up altogether.

From Literature

Now that money spigot is drying up, especially in smaller markets, as more consumers drop the cable bundles that long fueled the sports economy.

From The Wall Street Journal

Liquidity dried up first where positioning was most crowded.

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