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

• quiet (down)
• hush
• clam up
• shut up
• settle (down)
• hold one's peace
• 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

Although infusions of federal pandemic relief money have bolstered district budgets for the past several years, those funds will soon dry up. —Keri Heath, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025

Despite my best efforts, these ferns would just dry up and drop about a million crunchy brown leaves a day all over my floor. —Amy Panos, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 July 2025

The storm chances will dry up by the weekend and temperatures will remain slightly above average. —Hayleigh Evans, AZCentral.com, 29 July 2025

With these sources drying up, filmmaker Jen Gerber, longtime director of Inception to Projection, accepted a job teaching film at the University of Arizona at Tucson. —Arkansas Online, 28 July 2025

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