Fwd: Re: "dry run"

[Gregory {Greg} Downing]

At 09:10 AM 10/18/99 -0400, Larry Horn wrote:
>>>I have for a long time wondered about the semantics behind the term "dry
>>>run".
>>>What is it about being "dry" that makes the run-through a practice one?
>>>
>>>
>>well, without researching it, I can come up with
>>
>>       dry heaves (nothing expelled)
>>       dry hump (presumably the sexual reference you were alluding to?)
>>       dry lightning
>>
>>Some collocations that didn't originate metaphorically are still consistent
>>with the metaphorical ('with some critical element missing') sense; "dry
>>heaves" may be of that type, and presumably "dry cough". I could speculate
>>about the effect of all such cases (dry rot, dry well, dry dock, dry
>>counties...) but I won't.
>>
>>Larry [Horn]
>>
>

The earliest quotation in OED2 for "dry run" is "1941 Amer. Speech XVI.
165/1." One might check there for possible information. Note also that the
first three quotations given in OED2 are from 1941-44. Hmmm -- could this
locution's origin have something to do with WWII? Of course, one earlier
quotation would knock that idea into a cocked hat....


Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at is2.nyu.edu