from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dry \Dry\ (dr[imac]), a. [Compar. {Drier}; superl. {Driest}.]
[OE. dru[yogh]e, druye, drie, AS. dryge; akin to LG.
dr["o]ge, D. droog, OHG. trucchan, G. trocken, Icel. draugr a
dry log. Cf. {Drought}, {Drouth}, 3d {Drug}.]
1. Free from moisture; having little humidity or none; arid;
not wet or moist; deficient in the natural or normal
supply of moisture, as rain or fluid of any kind; -- said
especially:
(a) Of the weather: Free from rain or mist.
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The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the
season. --Addison.
(b) Of vegetable matter: Free from juices or sap; not
succulent; not green; as, dry wood or hay.
(c) Of animals: Not giving milk; as, the cow is dry.
(d) Of persons: Thirsty; needing drink.
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Give the dry fool drink. -- Shak
(e) Of the eyes: Not shedding tears.
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Not a dry eye was to be seen in the assembly. --
Prescott.
(f) (Med.) Of certain morbid conditions, in which there is
entire or comparative absence of moisture; as, dry
gangrene; dry catarrh.
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2. Destitute of that which interests or amuses; barren;
unembellished; jejune; plain.
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These epistles will become less dry, more
susceptible of ornament. --Pope.
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3. Characterized by a quality somewhat severe, grave, or
hard; hence, sharp; keen; shrewd; quaint; as, a dry tone
or manner; dry wit.
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He was rather a dry, shrewd kind of body. --W.
Irving.
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4. (Fine Arts) Exhibiting a sharp, frigid preciseness of
execution, or the want of a delicate contour in form, and
of easy transition in coloring.
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{Dry area} (Arch.), a small open space reserved outside the
foundation of a building to guard it from damp.
{Dry blow}.
(a) (Med.) A blow which inflicts no wound, and causes no
effusion of blood.
(b) A quick, sharp blow.
{Dry bone} (Min.), Smithsonite, or carbonate of zinc; -- a
miner's term.
{Dry castor} (Zool.) a kind of beaver; -- called also
{parchment beaver}.
{Dry cupping}. (Med.) See under {Cupping}.
{Dry dock}. See under {Dock}.
{Dry fat}. See {Dry vat} (below).
{Dry light}, pure unobstructed light; hence, a clear,
impartial view. --Bacon.
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The scientific man must keep his feelings under
stern control, lest they obtrude into his
researches, and color the dry light in which alone
science desires to see its objects. -- J. C.
Shairp.
{Dry masonry}. See {Masonry}.
{Dry measure}, a system of measures of volume for dry or
coarse articles, by the bushel, peck, etc.
{Dry pile} (Physics), a form of the Voltaic pile, constructed
without the use of a liquid, affording a feeble current,
and chiefly useful in the construction of electroscopes of
great delicacy; -- called also {Zamboni's}, from the names
of the two earliest constructors of it.
{Dry pipe} (Steam Engine), a pipe which conducts dry steam
from a boiler.
{Dry plate} (Photog.), a glass plate having a dry coating
sensitive to light, upon which photographic negatives or
pictures can be made, without moistening.
{Dry-plate process}, the process of photographing with dry
plates.
{Dry point}. (Fine Arts)
(a) An engraving made with the needle instead of the
burin, in which the work is done nearly as in etching,
but is finished without the use acid.
(b) A print from such an engraving, usually upon paper.
(c) Hence: The needle with which such an engraving is
made.
{Dry rent} (Eng. Law), a rent reserved by deed, without a
clause of distress. --Bouvier.
{Dry rot}, a decay of timber, reducing its fibers to the
condition of a dry powdery dust, often accompanied by the
presence of a peculiar fungus ({Merulius lacrymans}),
which is sometimes considered the cause of the decay; but
it is more probable that the real cause is the
decomposition of the wood itself. --D. C. Eaton. Called
also {sap rot}, and, in the United States, {powder post}.
--Hebert.
{Dry stove}, a hothouse adapted to preserving the plants of
arid climates. --Brande & C.
{Dry vat}, a vat, basket, or other receptacle for dry
articles.
{Dry wine}, that in which the saccharine matter and
fermentation were so exactly balanced, that they have
wholly neutralized each other, and no sweetness is
perceptible; -- opposed to {sweet wine}, in which the
saccharine matter is in excess.
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