rough-dry

or rough·dry

[ ruhf-drahy ]

verb (used with object),rough-dried, rough-dry·ing.
  1. to dry (laundry) after washing, without smoothing, ironing, etc.

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

Origin of rough-dry

1
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.

  • 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
  1. (of clothes or linen) dried ready for pressing

verb-dries, -drying or -dried
  1. (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