Dry. adj. [ꝺꞃıᵹ, Saxon.]

1. Arid; without wet; without moisture; not wet; not moist.

   If the pipe be a little wet on the inside, it will make a differing sound from the same pipe dry. Bacon's Natural History.

                           When God said,
   Be gather'd now, ye waters under heav'n,
   Into one place, and let dry land appear! Milton's Par. Lost.

               Of turbid elements the sport;
   From clear to cloudy tost, from hot to cold,
   And dry to moist. Thomson.

2. Without rain.

   A dry March and a dry May portend a wholsome Summer, if there be a showering April between. Bacon's Nat. History.

   The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the season. Addis.

3. Not succulent; not juicy.

               I will drain him dry as hay;
   Sleep shall neither night nor day
   Hang upon his penthouse lid:
   He shall live a man forbid. Shakespeare's Macbeth.

4. Without tears.

   Dry mourning will decays more deadly bring,
   As a North wind burns a too forward Spring:
   Give sorrow vent, and let the sluices go. Dryden's Aurengz.

5. Thirsty; a-thirst.

   So dry he was for sway. Shakespeare's Tempest.

   Void of a bulky charger near their lips,
   With which, in often interrupted sleep,
   Their frying blood compels to irrigate
   Their dry furr'd tongues. Phillips.

6. Jejune; barren; plain; unembellished; without pathos.

   As we should take care that our stile in writing be neither dry nor empty, we should look again it be not winding or wanton with far-fetched descriptions: either is a vice. B. Johns.

   It remaineth to treat concerning ornaments within, or without the fabrick, a piece not so dry as the meer contemplation of proportions; and therefore, I hope, therein somewhat to refresh both the reader and myself. Wotton's Architecture.

   That the fire burns by heat, is an empty dry return to the question, and leaves us still ignorant. Glanv. Sceps. c. 20.

   It is a dry fable, with little or nothing in it. L'Estrange.

   Authority and friendship work upon some, dry and sober reason works upon others. L'Estrange.

   To clear up this theory, I was willing to lay aside dry subtilties with which the schools are filled. Burnet's Theory.

   These epistles will become less dry, and more susceptible of ornament. Pope.

7. Hard; severe. [Drien anciently to endure, dree, Scottish.]

   I rather hop'd I should no more
   Hear from you o' th' gallanting score;
   For hard dry bastings used to prove
   The readiest remedies of love;
   Next a dry diet. Hudibras, p. ii. cant. i.