dry hole

[ drahy-hohl ]

noun
  1. Also called duster. any well drilled for oil or gas that does not yield enough to be commercially profitable: After three consecutive dry holes, we were delirious when this site came through big for us.

  2. a failed business venture, especially one that began with expectations and promises of high profitability: How do we explain to our investors yet another dry hole from our video games division?

Origin of dry hole

1
An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Words Nearby dry hole

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use dry hole in a sentence

  • Sometimes you git a payin' well an' a dry hole only a few hunderd feet apart.

    David Harum | Edward Noyes Westcott
  • It was hard work, putting down that well, and up to almost the last moment it promised to be a dry hole.

    The Prairie Wife | Arthur Stringer
  • Afar from the encampment Poppy had found a big dry hole in the heart of a clump of bushes.

    Poppy | Cynthia Stockley
  • Every dry hole gives a greater chance that the next will be full.

    Spinifex and Sand | David W Carnegie
  • Then came the blow-up, and it turned out that his well was just a dry hole in the ground.

British Dictionary definitions for dry hole

dry hole

noun
  1. (in the oil industry) a well that is drilled but does not produce oil or gas in commercially worthwhile amounts

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012