dry hole

noun

: a well (as for gas or oil) that proves unproductive

Examples of dry hole in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the project’s first well, tapping a state lease in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness near the Green River’s Bowknot Bend, was a dry hole, Chris Conrad, BLM’s Price field office manager, told the Emery County Public Lands Council earlier this month. —Brian Maffly, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Mar. 2021

Consider using hydraulic fracturing for hybrid EGS applications where conventional applications have encountered the geothermal equivalent of a dry hole – natural fractures were not encountered during drilling but could be intersected by fracturing. —Ian Palmer, Forbes, 19 May 2022

But in San Diego, the search for crude has led to one dry hole after another. —Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Nov. 2021

For their part, company representatives deny the Bowknot well was a dry hole. —Brian Maffly, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Mar. 2021

January and February, normally the wettest months, formed a dry hole in the middle of the rainy season. —Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2020

But please, tell us more about how a field featuring a popular former vice president, four accomplished senators (and the reportedly annoying mayor of South Bend, Ind., for some reason) is a dry hole. —BostonGlobe.com, 13 Nov. 2019

The little money Mesa made was all too often sucked down by yet another dry hole. —Cyrus Sanati, Fortune, 14 Sep. 2019

After drilling $22 million worth of dry holes in 2011, Barrow-Shaver had jumped at Raptor’s offer. —Janet Elliott, Houston Chronicle, 5 July 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dry hole

• bankroll
• bedroll
• borehole
• cajole
• catchpole
• charcoal
• condole
• control
• dipole
• downhole
• enroll
• extol