dry (redirected from dry as dust)

be as dry as a bone

to be extremely dry. I don't think he's been watering these plants - the soil's as dry as a bone.

See also: bone

be bone dry

to be completely dry. The ground was bone dry after 3 weeks without rain.

See also: bone

be home and dry (mainly British, Australian)

to have completed something successfully. I've just got one more report to write and I'll be home and dry.

See also: home

be like watching paint dry (humorous, humorous)

if you say that watching an activity is like watching paint dry, you mean that it is very boring. To me, watching golf on television is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

See also: like, paint, watch

bleed someone dry

to take someone's money until most or all of it has gone. Repayments on the new furniture were bleeding me dry.

See also: bleed

a dry run (British, American & Australian, British & Australian)

an occasion when you practise doing something to make sure there will be no problems when you really do it. We decided to do a dry run at the church the day before the wedding. We'd better have a couple of dummy runs before we do the real thing.

See also: run

keep your powder dry

to be ready to take action if necessary. All you have to do is keep your powder dry and await orders.

See also: keep, powder

leave someone high and dry

to put someone in a very difficult situation which they have no way of making better. The stock market crash left us high and dry with debts of over £200 000.

See also: high, leave

There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

something that you say which means that all the people in a particular place were very sad about what they had seen or heard and many of them were crying. She began to talk about her son who had died and by the end of her speech there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

See also: eye, house, there, wasn't

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bleed someone/something dry

to use up everything someone or something has available. The city is losing money at a rate that eventually will bleed it dry. I'm worried that the medical bills will bleed my parents dry.

Etymology: based on the idea of a person losing so much blood that they die

See also: bleed

dry up

to disappear. Many of those jobs dried up in the 1990s. Funding has all but dried up for new research in the field.

hang someone out to dry

to not support or help someone. After losing the election, the party is going to hang him out to dry.

Etymology: based on the practice of hanging an animal that has been killed in a tree so its meat can dry

See also: hang

keep your powder dry

to be ready to do something if necessary. We're not ready to start buying yet. We'll keep our powder dry until we think prices are as low as they'll go.

Etymology: from the idea that gunpowder (= an explosive substance in the form of a powder) will not explode if it is wet

See also: keep, powder

leave you high and dry

to leave you alone and without any help. We were left high and dry, without any money or credit cards.

See also: high, leave

not a dry eye (in the house)

everyone is crying or feels strong emotion. When he sang the beautiful old Austrian folksong, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Etymology: based on a special meaning of the house (= the people attending a performance in a theater)

See also: eye

run dry

to be all used completely. We have been told the Social Security trust fund will run dry in a few more years because so many people will be retiring.

See also: run