dry

adjective21

1. •
   not wet, and with no water in it or on it

   • This towel's dry. Could you wet it and cover the chicken so it doesn't go dry as it cooks?
2. •
   Anhydrous: free from or lacking water in any state, regardless of the presence of other liquids.

   • Dry alcohol is 200 proof.
3. •
   Free from or lacking alcohol or alcoholic beverages.

   • Of course it's a dry house. He was an alcoholic but he's been dry for almost a year now.
4. •
   Describing an area where sales of alcoholic or strong alcoholic beverages are banned.

   • You'll have to drive out of this dry county to find any liquor.
5. •
   Amusing without showing amusement.

   • Steven Wright has a deadpan delivery, Norm Macdonald has a dry sense of humor, and Oscar Wilde had a dry wit.
6. •
   Lacking interest, boring.

   • a dry academic discipline turned into a living subject
   • A dry lecture may require the professor to bring a water gun in order to keep the students' attention.
7. •
   Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness.

   • These epistles will become less dry, more susceptible of ornament. — 1733
8. •
   Low in sugar; lacking sugar; unsweetened.

   • Proper martinis are made with London dry gin and dry vermouth.
9. •
   Exhibiting precise execution lacking delicate contours or soft transitions of color.
10. •
    Unable to produce a liquid, as water, (petrochemistry) oil, or (agriculture) milk.

    • This well is as dry as that cow.
11. •
    Built without or lacking mortar.

    • [A]lready the gate was blocked with a wall of squared stones laid dry, but very thick and very high, across the opening. — 1937
12. •
    Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent.

    • making a dry run
    • dry snitches are as bad as regular snitches
13. •
    Of a bite from an animal: not containing the usual venom.
14. •
    Of a mass, service, or rite: involving neither consecration nor communion.
15. •
    Not using afterburners or water injection for increased thrust.

    • This fighter jet's engine has a maximum dry thrust of 200 kilonewtons.
16. •
    Free from applied audio effects (especially reverb).
17. •
    In a dry spell (e.g., unemployed, slow).

    • Things are dry right now. We're hoping business'll pick up next month.
18. •
    (figurative) Athirst, eager.
19. •
    Involving computations rather than work with biological or chemical matter.
20. •
    Of a board or flop: Not permitting the creation of many or of strong hands.

    • Jake was hoping to make something good out of his suited 7-8 hand, but the flop came out dry: 2-5-10 rainbow, and all of the wrong suit!.
21. •
    (Singapore, Malaysia) Mixed with sauce and not served in a soup.

noun7

1. •
   (Australia) The dry season.

   • [T]he spring-fed river systems. Not the useless little tributary jutting off into a mud hole at the end of the Dry. — 2006
2. •
   The process by which something is dried.

   • This towel is still damp: I think it needs another dry.
3. •
   An area with little or no rain, or sheltered from it.

   • Come under my umbrella and keep in the dry.
4. •
   (Australia) An area of waterless country.
5. •
   (US) A prohibitionist (of alcoholic beverages).

   • The drys were as unhappy with the second part of the speech as the wets were with the first half. — 1952
6. •
   (UK) A radical or hard-line Conservative; especially, one who supported the policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
7. •
   Unsweetened ginger ale; dry ginger.

   • All day, all night you feel as if the Earth could fly/Three more all for fine Indian Gin and whiskey dry. — 1968

verb4

1. •
   To lose moisture.

   • The clothes dried on the line.
   • The fruit dried in the dehydrator.
2. •
   To remove moisture from.

   • Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief.
   • We dried the fruit in the dehydrator.
3. •
   (figurative) To exhaust; to cause to run dry.
4. •
   (informal) For an actor to forget their lines while performing.

   • An actor never stumbled over his lines, he “fluffed”; he never forgot his dialogue, he “dried.” — 1986

adjective1

1. •
   Of code, having the quality of adhering to the principle of DRY; containing as little repetition as possible.

verb1

1. •
   To cause code to become DRY; to remove repetition from code.

phrase1

1. •
   Acronym of don't repeat yourself (“software development principle aimed at reducing repetition”).

   • The general principle here is DRY: Don't Repeat Yourself (HTOO). If you duplicate information in two or more places, sooner or later, you'll forget to update one of the copies […] — 2005