Verb (colloquial).—To cease talking; to abandon a purpose or position; to stop work. As an interjection = Hold your jaw!
1865. The Index, 2 Feb. With which modest contribution we ‘DRY UP’ with reference to the subject.
1872. Daily Telegraph, 4 July. An audience which should cause defeated Boston to hang her diminished head, DRY UP, and feel small.
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 69. I must ‘DRY UP,’ for the fellow’s bested me.
1884. Cornhill Magazine, June, p. 617. DRY UP! is the slangy and impatient exclamation with which he cuts short the occasional attempts of his mother to lecture him.
1887. O. W. HOLMES, Our Hundred Days in Europe, p. 131. There were frequent … interruptions, something like these: ‘That will do, sir!’ or, ‘You had better stop, sir!’ … With us it would have been ‘DRY UP!’ or ‘Hold on!’
1888. HAGGARD, Mr. Meeson’s Will [in Illustrated London News, Summer Number, p. 3, col. 1]. He … suddenly DRIED UP as he noticed the ominous expression on the great man’s brow.
