a young composer will dry up?

[keannu]

Can you tell me what dry up means? Does it mean such person will disappear or such person will lost his skill?

"...Composers describe their private world through the use of sound. Making such a description concrete and detailed requires not just inspiration but certain practical tools and skills.....You also need to know the range and capabilities of instruments, the possibilities of the human voice, and the problems of acoustics......A young composer who takes a shortcut in this technical training in his rush to play the role of a composer will dry up very fast....."

 

[SoothingDave]

His ability to have new musical ideas will end.

 

[keannu]

His ability to have new musical ideas will end.

Thank you! But why didn't they say "A young composer will dry up his ability?" Is this a common expression without an object? Why is "ability" missing?

...A young composer who takes a shortcut in this technical training in his rush to play the role of a composer will dry up very fast....

 

[Raymott]

Thank you! But why didn't they say "A young composer will dry up his ability?" Is this a common expression without an object? Why is "ability" missing?

...A young composer who takes a shortcut in this technical training in his rush to play the role of a composer will dry up very fast....

There's no object because 'dry up' is an intransitive verb.
It's a metaphor from water. A puddle of water dries up in the sun. A well or a spring can dry up, and not produce any more water. It becomes unproductive. An oil well can dry up. Similarly, a young composer can dry up.

A lot of phrasal verbs with 'up' are intransitive:
"It's time to finish up/close up/lock up."
"Shut up!", "Hurry up!", "Speak up"
"Children, come and clean up [your rooms]"

 

[Tdol]

You could say that his inspiration would dry up too.

 

[BobK]

In the more mechanical sense of forgetting the script, an actor can dry up as well. Among actors they do without the preposition, and just say 'I dried during the third act'.

b

 

[keannu]

There's no object because 'dry up' is an intransitive verb.
It's a metaphor from water. A puddle of water dries up in the sun. A well or a spring can dry up, and not produce any more water. It becomes unproductive. An oil well can dry up. Similarly, a young composer can dry up.

A lot of phrasal verbs with 'up' are intransitive:
"It's time to finish up/close up/lock up."
"Shut up!", "Hurry up!", "Speak up"
"Children, come and clean up [your rooms]"

Do you mean by "dry up" they will disappear or they will lose their ability?

 

[amy001]

. but now I saw myself, I no longer think so. It 's like a flash card giant talking! That's it!

 

[5jj]

Do you mean by "dry up" they will disappear or they will lose their ability?

It depends.

A puddle of water dries up in the sun. The water evaporates, and the puddle exists no more.
A well or a spring can dry up,- and not produce any more water. It becomes unproductive.
A young composer can dry up - and be unable to produce more compositions.

 

[keannu]

It depends.

A puddle of water dries up in the sun. The water evaporates, and the puddle exists no more.
A well or a spring can dry up,- and not produce any more water. It becomes unproductive.
A young composer can dry up - and be unable to produce more compositions.

You always scratch me where I itch.
The simple answer "depends" makes all my curiosity gone, as I was confused about why "dry up" without an object can be related to the object's status.
Thank you so much!!! My great master!