dry up
Britishverb
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(intr) to become barren or unproductive; fail
in middle age his inspiration dried up
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to dry (dishes, cutlery, etc) with a tea towel after they have been washed
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informal (intr) to stop talking or speaking
when I got on the stage I just dried up
dry up!
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Gradually become unproductive, as in After two collections of short stories, his ability to write fiction dried up . Also see well's run dry .
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Stop talking; also, cause to stop talking. For example, Dry up! You've said enough . [ Slang ; mid-1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some 1.47 million people are displaced in gang-ravaged Haiti, the United Nations' migration agency said Friday, warning that its ability to help could dry up within months.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
Not only does the pipeline of junior talent dry up, but residual effects include buggy software, service outages, security vulnerabilities and mounting technical debt.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Some said they couldn't find work, while others saw their income dry up after the authorities restricted the internet when the war started, suffocating industries and workers that relied on connecting to the global web.
From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026
O'Reilly's ability to do both reduced the need for Reijnders in midfield whose minutes began to dry up too.
From BBC • Apr. 25, 2026
“Those clouds don’t speak of rain. They will dry up before they can shed a drop.”
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
