to run like a dry creek
- idiom
:
correr como un arroyo seco
- Without rainfall, even large streams sometimes run like a dry creek for weeks.
Examples
-
The river runs like a dry creek during the summer months.
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After the drought, the stream ran like a dry creek for weeks.
-
After the dry season, the once powerful river began to run like a dry creek.
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During the drought, the fountain in the park ran like a dry creek, barely producing a trickle.
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During the drought, the river ran like a dry creek, barely flowing at all.
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After days without rain, the stream began to run like a dry creek, with hardly any water.
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In the hot summer, many rivers run like a dry creek, struggling to maintain their usual flow.
Synonyms
70
3.4
To flow slowly in drops or a thin stream
Antonyms
How Much
176
1.0
518
1.8
333
1.0
70
3.4
7
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase compares flowing water to a 'dry creek' so the meaning 'to flow very little or almost not at all' follows directly from 'run' (to flow), 'dry' (not wet) and 'creek' (small waterway) with 'like' marking a simile. This is a concrete, compositional image rather than an arbitrary idiom, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Run like a dry creek comes from the simple picture of run as moving water and a dry creek, a small stream with hardly any water that only gives a thin trickle. So when we say something runs like a dry creek, we mean it 'flows very little'.