rough-dry

or rough·dry

[ ruhf-drahy ]

verb (used with object),rough-dried, rough-dry·ing.

to dry (laundry) after washing, without smoothing, ironing, etc.

adjective

(of laundered clothes, sheets, etc.) dried but not ironed.

Origin of rough-dry

First recorded in 1830–40

Words Nearby rough-dry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use rough-dry in a sentence

There's the clothes in the basket under the table downstairsyou might begin to iron 'em; they're only rough dry.
The Wide, Wide World | Susan Warner
They are put on rough-dry in the morning, and so worn until they are considered dirty enough for another purification.
Ben, the Luggage Boy; | Horatio Alger
In the nearest cabin to the right some rough dry grass had been stored as if for the bedding of an animal.
The Ghost Girl | H. De Vere Stacpoole
So she had determined to use her bed-linen and underclothing rough-dry.
The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) | Marion Harland
She insisted on having every piece that moment—clean or dirty, ironed or rough-dry.
L'Assommoir | Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for rough-dry

rough-dry

adjective

(of clothes or linen) dried ready for pressing

verb-dries, -drying or -dried

(tr) to dry (clothes or linen) without smoothing or pressing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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