DRYINGS
Noun
dryings
plural of drying
Source: Wiktionary
DRYING
Dry"ing, a.
1. Adapted or tending to exhaust moisture; as, a drying wind or day;
a drying room.
2. Having the quality of rapidly becoming dry. Drying oil, an oil
which, either naturally or after boiling with oxide of lead, absorbs
oxygen from the air and dries up rapidly. Drying oils are used as the
bases of many paints and varnishes.
DRY
Dry, a. [Compar. Drier; superl. Driest.] Etym: [OE. dru, druye, drie,
AS. dryge; akin to LG. dröge, D. droog, OHG. trucchan, G. trocken,
Icel. draugr a dry log. Cf. Drought, Drouth, 3d Drug.]
1. Free from moisture; having little humidity or none; arid; not wet
or moist; deficient in the natural or normal supply of moisture, as
rain or fluid of any kind; -- said especially: (a) Of the weather:
Free from rain or mist.
The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the season. Addison.
(b) Of vegetable matter: Free from juices or sap; not succulent; not
green; as, dry wood or hay.
(c) Of animals: Not giving milk; as, the cow is dry.
(d) Of persons: Thirsty; needing drink.
Give the dry fool drink. Shak
(e) Of the eyes: Not shedding tears.
Not a dry eye was to be seen in the assembly. Prescott.
(f) (Med.)
Definition: Of certain morbid conditions, in which there is entire or
comparative absence of moisture; as, dry gangrene; dry catarrh.
2. Destitute of that which interests or amuses; barren;
unembellished; jejune; plain.
These epistles will become less dry, more susceptible of ornament.
Pope.
3. Characterized by a quality somewhat severe, grave, or hard; hence,
sharp; keen; shrewd; quaint; as, a dry tone or manner; dry wit.
He was rather a dry, shrewd kind of body. W. Irving.
4. (Fine Arts)
Definition: Exhibiting a sharp, frigid preciseness of execution, or the
want of a delicate contour in form, and of easy transition in
coloring. Dry area (Arch.), a small open space reserved outside the
foundation of a building to guard it from damp.
– Dry blow. (a) (Med.) A blow which inflicts no wound, and causes
no effusion of blood. (b) A quick, sharp blow.
– Dry bone (Min.), Smithsonite, or carbonate of zinc; -- a miner's
term.
– Dry castor (Zoöl.) a kind of beaver; -- called also parchment
beaver.
– Dry cupping. (Med.) See under Cupping.
– Dry dock. See under Dock.
– Dry fat. See Dry vat (below).
– Dry light, pure unobstructed light; hence, a clear, impartial
view. Bacon.
The scientific man must keep his feelings under stern control, lest
they obtrude into his researches, and color the dry light in which
alone science desires to see its objects. J. C. Shairp.
– Dry masonry. See Masonry.
– Dry measure, a system of measures of volume for dry or coarse
articles, by the bushel, peck, etc.
– Dry pile (Physics), a form of the Voltaic pile, constructed
without the use of a liquid, affording a feeble current, and chiefly
useful in the construction of electroscopes of great delicacy; --
called also Zamboni's , from the names of the two earliest
constructors of it.
– Dry pipe (Steam Engine), a pipe which conducts dry steam from a
boiler.
– Dry plate (Photog.), a glass plate having a dry coating sensitive
to light, upon which photographic negatives or pictures can be made,
without moistening.
– Dry-plate process, the process of photographing with dry plates.
– Dry point. (Fine Arts) (a) An engraving made with the needle
instead of the burin, in which the work is done nearly as in etching,
but is finished without the use acid. (b) A print from such an
engraving, usually upon paper. (c) Hence: The needle with which such
an engraving is made.
– Dry rent (Eng. Law), a rent reserved by deed, without a clause of
distress. Bouvier.
– Dry rot, a decay of timber, reducing its fibers to the condition
of a dry powdery dust, often accompanied by the presence of a
peculiar fungus (Merulius lacrymans), which is sometimes considered
the cause of the decay; but it is more probable that the real cause
is the decomposition of the wood itself. D. C. Eaton. Called also sap
rot, and, in the United States, powder post. Hebert.
– Dry stove, a hothouse adapted to preserving the plants of arid
climates. Brande & C.
– Dry vat, a vat, basket, or other receptacle for dry articles.
– Dry wine, that in which the saccharine matter and fermentation
were so exactly balanced, that they have wholly neutralized each
other, and no sweetness is perceptible; -- opposed to sweet wine, in
which the saccharine matter is in excess.
Dry, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dried; p. pr. & vb. n. Drying.] Etym: [AS.
drygan; cf. drugian to grow dry. See Dry, a.]
Definition: To make dry; to free from water, or from moisture of any kind,
and by any means; to exsiccate; as, to dry the eyes; to dry one's
tears; the wind dries the earth; to dry a wet cloth; to dry hay. To
dry up. (a) To scorch or parch with thirst; to deprive utterly of
water; to consume.
Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with
thirst. Is. v. 13.
The water of the sea, which formerly covered it, was in time exhaled
and dried up by the sun. Woodward.
(b) To make to cease, as a stream of talk.
Their sources of revenue were dried up. Jowett (Thucyd. )
– To dry, or dry up, a cow, to cause a cow to cease secreting milk.
Tylor.
Dry, v. i.
1. To grow dry; to become free from wetness, moisture, or juice; as,
the road dries rapidly.
2. To evaporate wholly; to be exhaled; -- said of moisture, or a
liquid; -- sometimes with up; as, the stream dries, or dries up.
3. To shrivel or wither; to lose vitality.
And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he
could not pull it in again to him. I Kings xiii. 4.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition