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

The legitimate options of where the value of the pick met their need were drying up. —Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026

After she was indicted in November, her fundraising almost entirely dried up, her fourth quarter 2025 and first quarter 2026 reports show. —Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 25 Apr. 2026

As their traditional enrollment bases dry up, sports have become a life raft. —Mark Dent, thehustle.co, 24 Apr. 2026

Saudi Arabia doesn’t depend as much on foreign tourists, but internal travel is driven by events, and as conferences, concerts, and major sporting fixtures like Formula 1 have been postponed, bookings have dried up. —Manal Albarakati, semafor.com, 23 Apr. 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