HIGH AND DRY ORIGIN

HIGH AND DRY

Pretty self explanatory this one and means exactly what it says on the tin. Saying that someone or something is ‘high and dry’, meaning stranded with little hope of help or recovery originates from the term used to describe ships that were beached. The use of the word ‘dry’ suggests they had been out of the water for some time and would probably remain so.

The phrases first reported use in print was in the ‘Ship News’ column of The Times in August 1796:

“The Russian frigate Archipelago, yesterday got around the Nore at high water, which; when the tide ebbed, left her nearly high and dry.”