dry up

1) PHR-V-ERG If something dries up or if something dries it up, it loses all its moisture and becomes completely dry and shrivelled or hard.

[V P] As the day goes on, the pollen dries up and becomes hard...

[V P n (not pron)] Warm breezes from the South dried up the streets. [Also V n P]

Derived words:

dried-up ADJ

...a tuft or two of dried-up grass.

2) PHRASAL VERB If a river, lake, or well dries up, it becomes empty of water, usually because of hot weather and a lack of rain.

[V P] Reservoirs are drying up and farmers have begun to leave their land in search of water...

[V P] The fountain is reputed never to dry up.

Derived words:

dried-up ADJ

...a dried-up river bed.

3) PHRASAL VERB If a supply of something dries up, it stops.

[V P] The main source of income and employment, tourism, is expected to dry up completely this summer...

[V P] Credit from foreign banks is drying up...

[V P] The company laid off 65,000 workers after commercial-jet orders dried up.

Syn:

disappear

4) PHRASAL VERB If you dry up when you are speaking, you stop in the middle of what you were saying, because you cannot think what to say next.

[V P] If you ask a woman what she is good at she will dry up after two minutes, but if you ask what she is not good at she will talk for two hours.

5) see dry 3)

6) → See also , drying up