Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Comparative and superlative degrees of dry.
  • noun One who or that which dries or is used in drying.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, dries; that which may expel or absorb moisture; a desiccative.
  • noun (Paint.) Drying oil; a substance mingled with the oil used in oil painting to make it dry quickly.
  • of dry, a.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any substance that accelerates drying.
  • noun Catalyst used to promote the drying of paints and varnishes by oxidative crosslinking.
  • noun Alternative spelling of dryer.
  • adjective comparative form of dry: more dry

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a substance that promotes drying (e.g., calcium oxide absorbs water and is used to remove moisture)
  • noun an appliance that removes moisture

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

dry +‎ -er (“comparative suffix”)

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

dry +‎ -er (“agent suffix”)

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Examples

  • “kukum” hot-air drier, the “Chula copra drier”, the Seychelles Calirifre, or the oil-fired hot-air drier marketed by M/S Premier Engineering Company at Cochin (India).

    Chapter 5 1983

  • Had to go appliance shopping yesterday – our 14-year-old drier is in the process of giving up the ghost.

    Squirrely behavior : Bev Vincent 2009

  • Without frequent rains such soils become droughty and don't offer much growth potential in drier times of the year, ie, summer.

    FoodPlot Choices 2009

  • Without frequent rains such soils become droughty and don't offer much growth potential in drier times of the year, ie, summer.

    FoodPlot Choices 2009

  • Paspalum pulchellum, Tonina fluviatilis and Utricularia subulata and in drier areas the grasses Fimbristylis paradoxa and Declieuxia fruticosa with palm thickets Acoelorraphe wrightii and Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis, 20-25 m tall.

    Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, Honduras 2008

  • Salient but unanswered question – for those of us living in drier country, will a toilet tank provide the necessary tidal frisson?

    Balloon Juice » 2006 » June 2006

  • With global warming likely to create long-term drier conditions here in the Northwest, we can probably expect to see slow trends away from water-intensive cash-crop human chow like sweet corn and towards towards less lucrative, but less thirsty crops.

    Archive 2008-01-01 2008

  • Agaves are often mistakenly classed as cacti, leading many people to refer to tequila as "a drink made from cactus", but while both agave and cacti species thrive in drier, more arid conditions, agaves are botanically unrelated to their thorny bedfellows.

    Did you know? Agaves function as Mexico's 7-Elevens 2003

  • Agaves are often mistakenly classed as cacti, leading many people to refer to tequila as "a drink made from cactus", but while both agave and cacti species thrive in drier, more arid conditions, agaves are botanically unrelated to their thorny bedfellows.

    Did you know? Agaves function as Mexico's 7-Elevens 2003

  • Bassists like to use the terms drier and more bite to describe this phenomenon.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

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