running dry

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

depleting or exhausting a supply, resource, fund of ideas, or source of energy to the point at which nothing useful remains; the hydraulic metaphor of a well, spring, or river running dry captures the moment of exhausted resource depletion, when a once-abundant source can no longer provide what is needed; applied to creative work the phrase describes the experience of idea exhaustion and creative block; applied to organisations, economies, or governments it describes the dangerous moment when reserves of money, goodwill, political capital, or natural resources fall below the level needed to sustain normal functioning