dry run, WWII slang

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

According to AMERICAN SPEECH 16 (1941: 163), DRY RUN appeared in a list
prepared by the Public Relations Division of the US Army, which would mean
that the term was in print (or maybe just in a press release?) in that
earlier government document in 1941, but more llikely earlier. DRY RUN is
defined (p165) as "To practice; a dress rehearsal." The author of the
American Speech "Glossary of Army Slang" is not given, so I assume it was put
together by the journal editdor, William Cabell Greet, though perhaps he just
copied it from the materials that the Army circulated.