Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Without moisture.
  • Without embellishment; without anything to enliven, enrich, or entertain.
  • Coldly; frigidly; without affection.
  • Severely; harshly; inconsiderately.
  • With apparently unintentional or sly humor or sarcasm.

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

  • adverb In a dry manner; not succulently; without interest; without sympathy; coldly.

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

  • adverb In a dry manner.

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

  • adverb in a dry laconic manner

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • "Dunnot hurt thysen explainin '," dryly; "I nivver set up fur one.

    That Lass o' Lowrie's: A Lancashire Story 1877

  • When I persisted, he shrugged and agreed to let me continue seeing Doug, whom he thereafter referred to dryly as my “healing project.”

    Coyote Medicine M.D. Lewis Mebl-Madrona 1997

  • When I persisted, he shrugged and agreed to let me continue seeing Doug, whom he thereafter referred to dryly as my “healing project.”

    Coyote Medicine M.D. Lewis Mebl-Madrona 1997

  • I seem to recall it being told kind of dryly, but the subject matter is really powerful and very relevant.

    Glyph Award Nominees Named 2009

  • An actor ( "Midnight Run" and those dog movies) and natural-born raconteur, he takes over Snyder's CNBC slot with the kind of dryly comic anecdotes he's filled three books with.

    Late Night Unplugged 2008

  • So many people were saying things "dryly" that I thought I was sitting in the Sahara.

    Hawk & Fisher Bill Crider 2004

  • "La Mancha, " Vuillard said dryly, meaning the English Channel.

    Sharpe's Havoc Cornwell, Bernard 2003

  • We're not as well off as we have been, "dryly;" but I'm not a beast to see a man starvin 'under my roof.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 74, December, 1863 Various

  • "He isn't just the pardner," dryly, "that I'd select for a long camping trip."

    The Fighting Shepherdess Caroline Lockhart 1916

  • "I've heerd foak ca 'him one," dryly; "an 'if his cloas fit him reet, he mun be one, I suppose."

    That Lass o' Lowrie's: A Lancashire Story 1877

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  • "Why has draft not been honored?, in the abbreviated jargon of the railroad telegrapher. --US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906.

    January 22, 2013