dry up

verb

dried up; drying up; dries up

transitive verb

: to cut off the supply of

intransitive verb

1

: to disappear as if by evaporation, draining, or cutting off of a source of supply

2

: to wither or die through gradual loss of vitality

3

: to stop talking

Synonyms of dry up

• quiet (down)
• hush
• clam up
• shut up
• settle (down)
• pipe down
• cool (down)
• calm (down)

Examples of dry up in a Sentence

sick of her constant complaining, he angrily told her to dry up

Recent Examples on the Web

Tragically, fortunes turned when the crops had to be burned, drying up the area’s only significant resource. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 July 2026

Architectural decision records, design review minutes and post-implementation documentation are drying up, despite the same or higher rate of architectural change. — Kevin Cushnie, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026

Butch’s plants dried up and died a few weeks after Butch did. — Emily Ruskovich, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026

General manager Don Waddell tried to change the mix via free agency, but circled back to Gudbranson when the market dried up of physical veterans. — Aaron Portzline, New York Times, 6 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for dry up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup