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

And while the Center for Transforming Lives has budget reserves, Klocek said federal rent assistance money that her organization uses to house clients has dried up, leaving the organization on the hook for $47,000 a month, which is eating into its funds. —Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Oct. 2025

But, with the loss of his income and bills pouring in, the family applied for benefits at the end of September when her husband's paychecks officially dried up. —Nushrat Rahman, Freep.com, 27 Oct. 2025

Since February, the small staff supporting PRO have extended their commitment to the project one month at a time, expecting that either donations would dry up or projects would no longer be viable. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025

That means the shutdown's impact on SNAP and when benefits will start to dry up will vary by state. —Justin Gomez, ABC News, 27 Oct. 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