dry up
phr. v..phr. v.. to stop being available or to disappear completely. You use this when talking about things like money, ideas, or water that slowly run out until nothing is left.
phr. v.. to cease to exist or be available; to become depleted or exhausted. This phrasal verb is often used intransitively to describe the cessation of a supply, such as funds, resources, or creative output.
The funding for our project will dry up next month.
When the local factory closed, many jobs in the small town began to dry up.
Foreign investment began to dry up as the political climate became increasingly unstable and unpredictable for international stakeholders.
usually used intransitively without an object to describe a supply or source ending.
help students visualize the metaphor of a river or well losing water to understand why we use this for abstract things like 'money' or 'conversation'.
The money was dried up by the bank.The money dried up.this phrasal verb is almost always used in the active voice to describe a natural or inevitable ending.