1
general::
Phrase(s): dry someone out
Fig. to cause someone to become sober; to cause someone to stop drinking alcohol to excess. • If the doctor at the clinic can’t dry him out, no one can. • The hospital will dry out Mary and start treatment., Phrase(s): dry something out
to make something become dry. • Dry this out and put it on immediately. • Dry out your jacket in the clothes dryer., Phrase(s): dry out
1. Lit. to become dry. • The clothes finally dried out in the wet weather. 2. Fig. to allow alcohol and the effects of drunkenness, especially if habitual, to dissipate from one’s body. • He required about three days to dry out completely. • He dried out in three days.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Undergo a cure for alcoholism, as in After years of constant drinking, he realized that he needed to dry out. [1960s]
American Heritage Idioms