arid, a.
(ˈærɪd)
[ad. L. ārid-us, f. ārē-re to be dry, parched with heat. Perh. directly from F. aride, 15th c. refashioning of OF. are, arre.]
1. Dry, without moisture, parched, withered. † a. of substances: Dry; anhydrous. Obs.
| 1652 L. S. People's Lbty. ix. 17 Aride and liquide fruicts. 1742 Shenstone Schoolmistr. 106 Lavender..in arid bundles bound. 1803 Phil. Trans. XCIII. 14 Arid white salt..Arid, may be appropriated to express the state of being devoid of combined water. |
† b. Med. of the skin. Obs.
| 1704 Swift Batt. Bks. (1711) 248 Her Body grew white and arid. 1727 Arbuthnot & Pope (J.) My complexion is become adust, and my body arid. |
c. of the ground or climate. Hence, barren, bare.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Arid, dry, barren, withered, unfruitful. 1730 Thomson Autumn 147 Without him summer were an arid waste. 1849 Dickens Barn. Rudge (1866) I. lviii. 265 The dry, arid look of the dusty square. 1872 Baker Nile Tribut. Pref. 7 Arid sands and burning deserts. |
2. fig. Dry, uninteresting, barren, jejune.
| 1827–39 De Quincey Murder Wks. IV. 26 An old arid and adust metaphysician. 1846 Lytton Lucretia (1853) 167 Ardworth grappled with his arid studies. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola lxxi, Arid of all good. |