Druse 
Druse 2 (droz), . [Turk. Druzi.'] One of a 
people and religious sect of Syria, living chiefly 
in the mountain regions of Lebanon and Anti- 
libanus and the district of Hauran. The only 
name they acknowledge is Unitarians (Muahidiii); that 
by which they are known to others is probably from Ismail 
Darazi or Durzi, who was their first apostle in Syria. They 
are fanatical and warlike, and have had bloody conflicts 
with their neighbors the Maronites. 
Drusian 1 (dro'si-an), a. [< L. Drusianus, < 
Drusus (see def.).] Pertaining to Nero Clau- 
dius Drusus, called Drusus Senior (38-9 B. C.), 
stepson of the emperor Augustus, who govern- 
ed Germany. Drusian foot, an ancient German long 
measure, equal to about 13 English inches. 
Drusian 2 (dro'zi-an), a. [< Druse% + -Jaw.] Of 
or pertaining to the Druses. 
The full exposition of the Dntxian creed . . . would 
require a volume of considerable size. 
Kncyc. Brit., VII. 484. 
drusy (dro'zi), a. [<.druse i + -y 1 .'] In mineral., 
covered or lined with very minute crystals. The 
surface of a mineral is said to be drnsy when composed 
of very small prominent crystals of nearly uniform size : 
as, druny quartz. 
The drusy, crystalline cavities of quartz and amethyst 
that enhance the beauty of the material [silidm-d wood) 
so much. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVIII. 382. 
druve, . [Seedrmiy.'] A muddy river. Grose. 
[Cumberland, Eng.] 
druvyt, . See drory. Srockett. 
druxy, druxey (druk'si), a. [Also droxy, and 
formerly "drixy, dricksie; origin obscure.] Part- 
ly decayed, as a tree or timber ; having decay- 
ed spots or streaks of a whitish color. 
dry (dri), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also drie; < 
ME. drye, drie, dri, drige, dryge, druge, etc., < 
AS. dryge, drige, orig. * druge = D. droog = MLG. 
droge, druge, LG. dreuge, drog, drege, dree, dry ; 
allied to OS. drukno, drokno, adv., druknian, v., 
make dry, = OHG. trucchan. trocchan, MHG. 
trucken, trocken, G. trocken, adj., dry. Cf. Icel. 
draugr, a dry log, from the same Teut. / "drug. 
Hence ult. drought^, drouth, dryth, and drugl.~\ 
I. a.; compar. drier, super), driest (sometimes 
dryer and dryest). 1. Without moisture; not 
moist; absolutely or comparatively free from 
water or wetness, or from fluid of any kind: as, 
dry land ; dry clothes ; dry weather ; a dry day ; 
dry wood ; dry bones. 
When 'tis fair and dry Weather North of the Equator, 
'tis blustering and rainy Weather South of it. 
Dumpier, Voyages, II. iii. 77. 
It is a very dry country, where they have hardly any 
other supply but from the rain water. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 136. 
Upon the reading of this letter, there was not a dry eye 
in the club. Addimn, Spectator, No. 517. 
Nor vainly buys what Gildor sells, 
Poetic buckets for dry wells. 
M. Green, The Spleen. 
Specifically 2. In geol. and mining, free from 
the presence or use of water, or distant from 
water: as, dry diggings; dry separation. 3. 
Not giving milk: as ; a dry cow. 4. Thirsty; 
craving drink, especially intoxicating drink. 
None so dry or thirsty . . . will touch one drop of it. 
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 
Believe me, I am dry with talking ; here, boy, give us 
here a bottle and a glass. 
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 259. 
I suspected nothing but that he had rode till he was dry. 
\falpole, Letters, II. 846. 
5. Barren; jejune; destitute of interest; in- 
capable of awakening emotion : as, a dry style ; 
a dry subject ; a dry discussion. 
As one then in a dreame, whose dryer braine 
Is tost with troubled sights and fancies weake, 
He mumbled soft, but would not all his silence breake. 
Spemer, F. Q., I. i. 42. 
Their discourses from the pulpit are generally dry, me- 
thodical, and unaffecting. Goldsmith, English Clergy. 
Long before he reached manhood he knew how to baffle 
curiosity by dry and guarded answers. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. 
Macaulay's memory, like Nicbuhr's, undoubtedly con- 
founded not infrequently inference and fact ; it exagger- 
ated ; it gave, not what was in the book, but what a vivid 
imagination inferred from the book. Sir George Lewis 
had none of this defect ; his memory was a dry memory, 
just as his mind was a dry light ; if he said a thing was at 
page 10, you might be sure it was at page 10. 
W. Sagehot, On Sir G. C. Lewis. 
6f. Severe; hard: as, a dry blow. 
Dro. S. I pray you eat none of it [meat]. 
Ant. S. Your reason? 
Dro. S. Lest it make you choleric, and purchase me an- 
other dry basting. Shak., C. of E., ii. 2. 
If I should have said no, I should have given him the 
lie, uncle, and so have deserved a dry beating again 
Ford, 'Tis Pity, ii. 6. 
7. Lacking in cordiality; cold: as, his answer 
was very short and dry. 
1784 
Wyth sturne chere ther he stod, he stroked his berde, 
fe wyth a countenaunce dryge he drog doun his cote. 
SirGaimyne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 335. 
Full cold my greeting was and dry. 
Tennyson, The Letters. 
8. Humorous or sarcastic, apparently without 
intention ; slily witty or caustic : as, a dry re- 
mark or repartee. 
He was rather a dry, shrewd kind of body. InAng. 
Mark ... is exceedingly calm ; his smile is shrewd ; 
he can say the driest, most cutting things in the quietest 
tones. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, ix. 
9. In painting, noting a hardness or formal 
stiffness of outline, or a want of mellowness 
and harmony in color; frigidly precise; harsh. 
The Tall of the Angels, by F. Floris, 1554 ; which has 
some good parts, but without masses, and dry. 
SirJ. Reynolds, Journey to Flanders and Holland. 
No comparison can be instituted between his [Verro- 
chio's) dry uninspired manner and the divine style of his 
scholar [Leonardo da Vinci]. 
C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 136. 
10. In sculp., lacking or void of luxuriousness 
or tenderness in form. 11. Free from sweet- 
ness and fruity flavor : said of wines and, by 
extension, of brandy and the like. It is said also 
of artificially prepared wines, as champagnes, in which a 
diminished amount of sweetening, or liqueur, as it is 
called, is added, as compared with sweet wines. 
12. In metal., noting a peculiar condition of a 
metal undergoing metallurgic treatment. The 
epithet is chiefly used in reference to copper which is be- 
ing refined. Dry copper contains a certain proportion of 
oxygen in combination, and to eliminate this it is subject- 
ed to the process of poling. 
During the ladling out the refiner takes an assay at 
short intervals, as the metal is liable to get out of pitch, 
or become dry, as under-poled copper is termed. 
Encyc. Brit., VI. 350. 
13. In American political slang, of or belong- 
ing to the Prohibition party; in favor of or 
adopting prohibition of the sale or use of intoxi- 
cating liquors : opposed to wet: as, a dry town, 
county, or State Cut and dryt. See cut, p. a. 
Dry bob, casting, color. See the nouns. Dry con- 
fections. See confection. Dry cooper. See cooper. 
Dry cupping. See cupping, l. Dry digging, distilla- 
tion, exchange, mass, measure, pile, etc. See the 
nouns. Dry plate, in photog., a sensitized plate of which 
the sensitive film is hard and dry, so that it can be packed 
away, and, if protected from light, will keep for a con- 
siderable time before being used to make a negative or 
a positive picture. Various processes for preparing dry 
plates have been experimented with almost since the ear- 
liest ditf usion of photography ; but most of these processes 
afforded plates of very uncertain quality, slow in opera- 
tion, and exceedingly unreliable in their property of keep- 
ing. Dry plates have comparatively recently come into 
general use, in great measure superseding the old wet 
plates, owing to the adoption of gelatin as a medium for 
the sensitizing agent (bromide of silver), which is formed 
into an emulsion with the gelatin, and spread in a thin 
film upon some support, as glass, paper, or metal. Such 
plates require a remarkably short exposure to make a 
picture, are very convenient to handle, since the operator 
can make a number of exposures at one time and place, 
and can perform the chemical operations of development, 
etc., at his convenience, weeks afterward, if necessary, at 
any other place, instead of being forced, as with wet 
plates, to finish his picture at once. Moreover, the gela- 
tin film is so tough that it is hardly necessary to varnish 
a dry-plate picture, as is indispensable with the tender 
collodion film ; and these plates can be prepared commer- 
cially at small cost and of even quality. Their chief defect 
is that they cannot, as now made, be trusted to keep un- 
impaired in warm weather, while unexposed or undevel- 
oped, longer than about two months, or even less. Dry 
process. See process. Dry season, a fishing season 
during which fish are scarce. [Local, New England.] 
Dry service. See dry mass, under mass*. Dry way, a 
method of assaying by the aid of fire, or in a furnace or 
muffle: the opposite of assaying in the humid way, when 
the combination to be assayed, or, more properly, analyzed, 
exists in solution, or in the liquid form. .High and dry. 
See high. to boll dry. See boil^. 
II. n. ; pi. dries (driz). 1 . A place where 
things are dried ; a drying-house. 
In the tanks it [clay] is allowed to settle until it acquires 
a thick creamy consistency, when it is transferred to the 
drying-house or dry. Encyc. Brit., XIV. 1. 
2. In American political slang, a member of 
the Prohibition party. 3. In masonry, a fis- 
sure in a stone, intersecting it at various angles 
to its bed and rendering it unfit to support a 
load. 
dry (dri), v. ; pret. and pp. dried, ppr. drying. 
[< ME. dryen, drien, drigen, drygen, etc., ^ AS. 
drygan, drigan, tr., dry, drugian, intr., become 
dry (= D. droogen = LG. drogen, driigen, dry), 
< dryge, dry: see dry, a.] I. trans. 1. To make 
dry; free from water or from moisture of any 
kind, and by any means, as by wiping, evapo- 
ration, exhalation, or drainage ; desiccate : as, 
to dry the eyes; to dry hay; wind dries the 
earth ; to dry a meadow or a swamp. 
After drie hem in the sonne, a nyghtes 
Leve hem not throute, and then in places colde 
Lette honge hem uppe. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 117. 
dry-as-dust 
With eyes scarce dried, the sorrowing dame 
To welcome noble Marmion came. 
Scott, Marmion, iv. 12. 
2. To cause to evaporate or exhale ; stop the 
flow of: as, to dry out the water from a wet 
garment. 
Chang'd Peace and Pow'r for Rage and Wars, 
Only to dry one Widow's Tears. Prior, Alma, i. 
3. To wither; parch. 
A man of God, by Faith, first strangely drfd, 
Then heal'd again, that Kings vnholy hand. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Triumph of Faith, iiii. 8. 
This wasted body, 
Beaten and bruis'd with arms, dried up with troubles, 
Is good for nothing else but quiet now, sir, 
And holy prayers. Fletcher, Loyal Subject, i. 3. 
Cut and dried. See cut, p. a. Dried alum. Same as 
burnt alum (which see, under alum). To dry up. (a) 
To deprive wholly of moisture ; scorch or parch with arid- 
ity. 
Their honourable men are famished, and their multi- 
tude dried up with thirst. Isa. v. 13. 
(&) To evaporate completely ; stop the flow of : as, the 
fierce heat dried up all the streams. 
Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary 
On this fair corse. Shak., R. and J., iv. 5. 
II. intrans. 1. To lose moisture ; become 
free from moisture. 2. To evaporate; be ex- 
haled ; lose fluidity : as, water dries away rap- 
idly; blood dries quickly on exposure to the 
air. To dry up. (a) To become thoroughly dry ; lose 
all moisture, (ft) To be wholly evaporated ; cease to flow, 
(c) To wither, as a limb, (d) To cease talking ; be silent. 
(Low.] 
Dry up: no, I won't dry up. I'll have my rights, if I 
die for 'em, ... so you had better dry up yourself. 
P. Reeves, Student's Speaker, p. 79. 
dryad (dri'ad), n. [= D. G. Dan. dryade = Sw. 
dryad = F. dryade = Sp. driade, driada = Pg. 
dryas = It. driada, driade, < L. dryas {dryad-), 
< Gr. Apvaf (Spva6-), a wood-nymph, < Spvf, a 
tree, esp. and commonly the oak, = E. tree, 
q. v. Cf. hamadryad.'] 1. In myth., a deity or 
nymph of the woods ; a nymph supposed to re- 
side in trees or preside over woods. See hama- 
dryad. 
Soft she withdrew, and, like a wood-nymph light, 
Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train, 
Betook her to the groves. Milton, P. L., ix. 387. 
Thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, . . . 
Singest of summer in full-throated ease. 
Keats, Ode to a Nightingale. 
Knock at the rough rind of this ilex-tree, and summon 
forth the Dryad. Hawthorne, Marble Faun, ix. 
2. In zool., a kind of dormouse, Myoxus dryas. 
Dryades (dri'a-dez), n. pi. [NL.] A group of 
butterflies, named from the genus Dryas. Hub- 
ner, 1816. 
dryadic (dri-ad'ik), a. [< dryad + -ic.] Of or 
pertaining to dryads. 
He could hear the woods declaiming in vibrant periods, 
although he could translate none of these dryadic tones 
that came from the trees. The Atlantic, LXI. 669. 
Dryandra (dri-an'dra), n. [NL., named after 
Jonas Dryander, a Swedish-English botanist 
(1748-1810).] A large genus of Australian 
shrubs, natural order 1'roteauece, with hard, dry, 
evergreen, generally serrated leaves, and com- 
pact cylindrical clusters of yellow flowers. A 
few species are occasionally cultivated in green- 
houses. 
Dryas (dri'as), n. [NL., < L. dryas, a dryad: 
see dryad.'} 1. A small genus of rosaceous 
plants, found in alpine and arctic regions of the 
northern hemisphere. They are small prostrate 
shrubs with large white or yellow flowers, followed by a 
number of long feather-awned achenes. The mountain 
avens, D. octopetala, is amphigean, and from it the arctic 
D. integrifolia is hardly distinct. The only other species, 
D. Drummondii, is peculiar to the Hocky Mountains of 
British America, 
2. In entom.: (a) A genus of butterflies, of 
which D. paphia is the type and sole species. 
(6) Another genus of butterflies. Also called 
Aculhua. Hubner, 1816; Felder, 1865. 
dry-as-dust (dri'as-dust'), a. and n. [That is, 
dry as dust; used as the name of "Dr. Dryas- 
dust," the feigned editor or introducer of some 
of Scott's novels, and by later writers in allu- 
sion to this character.] I. a. Very dry or un- 
interesting; prosaic. 
That sense of large human power which the mastery 
over a great ancient language, itself the key to a magnifi- 
cent literature, gave, and which made scholarship then a 
passion, while with us it has almost relapsed into an anti- 
quarian dry-as-dust pursuit. 
R. H. Ilutton, Modern Guides of English Thought, p. 193. 
So much of the work is really admirable that one the 
more regrets the large proportion of the trivial and the 
dryasdust. Athenanun, No. 3084, p. 739. 
II. n. A dull, dry, prosaic person. 
Not a mere antiquariun tlrtiamlu^t. 
lirilitli Quarterly Km., I.XXXIII. 173. 
