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

That's in part because the market for local fish dried up early in the COVID-19 pandemic when restaurants closed to in-person dining. —Joe Hernandez, NPR, 23 May 2026

Still, that doesn’t mean that the gusher of Middle Eastern money is going to completely dry up. —Brett Knight, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026

Yet there is a widespread belief among economists that once those refunds dry up, shoppers will pull back on spending. —Michelle Chapman, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2026

But after the Clinton Administration dried up the supply of Cuban rafters with an order to repatriate any caught coming to the United States, Brothers started searching for a way to encourage unrest. —Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 20 May 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