DRY UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dry up mean? 

• DRY UP (verb)
  The verb DRY UP has 2 senses:

1. lose water or moisture

2. dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture

  Familiarity information: DRY UP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRY UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lose water or moisture

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

dehydrate; desiccate; dry up; exsiccate

Context example:

In the desert, you get dehydrated very quickly

Hypernyms (to "dry up" is one way to...):

dry; dry out (remove the moisture from and make dry)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

dry up; mummify

Context example:

a mummified body was found

Hypernyms (to "dry up" is one way to...):

shrink; shrivel; shrivel up; wither (wither, as with a loss of moisture)

Verb group:

mummify (remove the organs and dry out (a dead body) in order to preserve it)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in one's heart.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The water-budget model in the study shows low amounts of rainfall caused the lake to dry up at least three times in the past 100,000 years, and it could happen again.

(Environmental change in Africa: Will it lead to a drying Lake Victoria?, National Science Foundation)

O Frederick! answered she, I was cooking you a steak; but while I went down to draw the ale, the dog ran away with it; and while I ran after him, the ale ran out; and when I went to dry up the ale with the sack of meal that we got at the fair, I upset the jug: but the cellar is now quite dry, and looks so clean!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

If the gentleman would but persevere, if he had but love enough to persevere, Sir Thomas began to have hopes; and these reflections having passed across his mind and cheered it, Well, said he, in a tone of becoming gravity, but of less anger, well, child, dry up your tears.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Global climate change could cause Africa's Lake Victoria, the world's largest tropical lake and source of the Nile River, to dry up in the next 500 years, according to new findings by a team led by University of Houston researchers.

(Environmental change in Africa: Will it lead to a drying Lake Victoria?, National Science Foundation)