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

Fishing has long dried up in Snook’s Arm, so Calvin and his son Wade (Charlie Heaton) make a living by collecting ice for a local vodka brewery and running an Airbnb out of their home. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026

Afghanistan has also suffered from decades of conflict and global aid has all but dried up since the return of Taliban rule in 2021. — Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 6 Oct. 2026

Portions of the river similarly dried up in 2021, 2022 and 2023, even after the state started imposing limits on how much water farmers could take. — Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026

Parts of New Mexico, meanwhile, looked less and less like the months of drought that dried up reservoirs and caused hungry bears to roam into neighborhoods in search of food. — Mead Gruver, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 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