Before you ask yourself what a “dry run” would be, let me tell you that today’s expression should not be translated literally!
In fact, dry run means “rehearsal”, “training” or “test” . There is much speculation about the origin of this expression, with the two most accepted referring to the testing of equipment by fire departments, without the use of water (hence the term dry ), and to shooting training carried out by the American army, without actually using bullets.
Regardless of the origin of the expression dry run, what we want to do is learn how to use it, right? To help you with this, we have separated several phrases with this expression. Check it out!
Let’s start by looking at dry run meaning “rehearsal”:
We did a dry run of the experiment.
After
several dry runs , she was ready to give the speech.
Early in
the week, the hotel staff staged a dry run to prepare for guests arriving later in the week .
Today is
only a dry run so we will not be using the actual costumes.
The day before the
trial, the lawyers tried a dry run of the closing arguments.
We had a dry run of the inauguration ceremony yesterday.
Now, look at dry run as “workout”:
The
competition was planned as a dry run for the World Cup finals.
They were, undoubtedly, a dry run for the first games of the NBA’s restart, which begin in July. ( Read the post English Structures: Months of the Year )
He declared that the ballistic missile test had been a successful dry run for a strike on American bases in Japan .
High
school is a dry run for the rest of your life .
Finally, see dry run as a “test”:
This
is just a dry run for my first big project .
The
company launched the service as a dry run to understand what the customers actually want from it .
It is best to give it a dry run to check if the colour bleeds before you put the garment in the washing machine with your other clothes.
Did you enjoy learning the expression dry run ? Then open your Anki and copy the sentences above there, so you don’t forget what you learned today. See you next time!