dry run

plural dry runs · alternative dry-run

1. idiomaticA practice or rehearsal; especially, one that goes through all the motions of a physical process but without the raw material or workpiece present.

   They did a dry run of the demonstration before showing it to the CEO.

   3 more examples

   When the dry run mode of a machine tool control is on, the machine can move rapidly because it is cutting only air, not metal. The operator can do a dry run and verify that the motions look correct.

   Next Mr. Gregory went on to make a big thing out of the fact that he had caught them climbing "into" the school grounds not long before. He didn't exactly say so, but it was plain that he felt he had interrupted some kind of dry run—a training exercise for a crime in the planning.

   1970, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, chapter 19, in The Changeling, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, →OCLC; republished Guildford, Surrey: The Lutterworth Press, 1976, →ISBN, page 179

   John seems to think I will have enough to say of interest to the membership to fill my minimum number of pages. I understand that some waitlisters have contributed pages before becoming full members and this seems like a good idea to me. This way I can make a dry run at putting together my contributions each mailing without worrying about having to meet minac.

   2001 October, Warren Harris, “Just who is this guy anyway?”, in Back Numbers, number 1, page 1

   Synonyms: dummy run