high and dry

adjective

Definition of high and dry

1 : being out of reach of the current or tide or out of the water

2 : being in a helpless or abandoned position

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Examples of high and dry in a Sentence

the inadequate supplies of vaccine left many people high and dry when the flu season arrived

Recent Examples on the Web

However, the beer industry isn’t the only one left high and dry this season. — Carson Kessler, Fortune, "A CO2 Shortage Is Threatening the Beer and Meat Supply in the U.K. During the World Cup," 21 June 2018 Drivers for services such as Uber, Lyft and taxi drivers are left high and dry by 18 percent of millennials, even when presented with preset tipping options on the ride-hailing apps. — Dalvin Brown, USA TODAY, "Millennials are the worst when it comes to tipping," 18 June 2018 Media: AutomotoTV The storm left Kaminski and wife April’s home in the Richmond/Rosenberg area high and dry, but their neighborhood was flooded in. — Lindsay Peyton, Houston Chronicle, "A Rosenberg man and his off-road rock crawler rescue flooded families," 18 May 2018 After having the baseball state champion crowned in either Class 3A or 4A for five straight seasons, the Southland came up high and dry last season. — Pat Disabato, Daily Southtown, "Disabato: Here are the Southland baseball teams with the best chance to win state in Class 3A and 4A," 18 May 2018 Of course, the Padres weren’t about to leave Fort Wayne high and dry up the middle. — Jeff Sanders, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Tatis promotion shows Padres prospects dictate how fast they move," 26 Aug. 2017 High-end video cards are being bought in their dozens by cryptocurrency miners, leaving those who want a video card to actually do graphical things high and dry. — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "The hunt for cheaper GPUs is turning up some unexpected bargains," 2 Mar. 2018 But unity remains elusive for the party whose ugly presidential primary in 2016 led to Hillary Clinton mortally damaged on Election Day after Bernie Sanders supporters left her high and dry, embittered that the party had shafted their man. — Maria Panaritis, Philly.com, "For Pa. Democrats, family feud threatens gerrymandering joy | Maria Panaritis," 14 Feb. 2018 Over at Suffolk Downs, developers plan to turn the old racetrack into an office campus with acres of parkland that can double as a giant moat to keep buildings high and dry. — Tim Logan, BostonGlobe.com, "Waterfront developers prepare for a sea change," 10 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'high and dry.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near high and dry

high-altitude training

high-and-mighty

high-angle fire

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The first known use of high and dry was in 1727

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