not a dry eye in the house

N

not a dry eye in the house (idiom / hyperbole)
/nɑt ə ˈdraɪ aɪ ɪn ðə ˈhaʊs/

Meanings

The idiom not a dry eye in the house means that something was so emotional, touching, or moving that almost everyone present was crying or felt like crying. It is often used after concerts, movies, speeches, or personal events to show that the moment had a strong impact on people’s feelings. While it usually works as an exaggeration, the idea is that the whole audience or group was overcome with emotion, leaving no one unaffected.

Quick Meanings

• Everyone present was deeply touched and moved to tears.
• Many in the audience or group were crying or close to crying.
• Used broadly for any group setting, not just theater or concerts.
• Figurative exaggeration to stress strong emotion.
• (Literal, rare) Everyone’s eyes were wet (truly no dry eyes).

Synonyms: tearful; emotional; touched; stirred; affected; overwhelmed; heartbroken; moved everyone to tears; brought everyone to tears; reduced the audience to tears; everyone cried.

Example Sentences

1. The film’s last scene was so emotional that there was not a dry eye in the house; people left wiping their faces. (everyone moved to tears)
2. At the singer’s farewell concert, there was not a dry eye in the house — even the critics were crying. (audience context)
3. When the soldier reunited with his family, there was not a dry eye in the house. (group setting)
4. The puppy video had people laughing and, jokingly, not a dry eye in the house. (exaggerated)
5. After the pepper-spray demo, there was not a dry eye in the house. (literal)
6. The actor’s emotional tribute to his late co-star left not a dry eye in the audience.
7. When the bride’s father gave his heartfelt speech, there were no dry eyes in the house.
8. The farewell ceremony was so moving that there were few dry eyes in the house.
9. By the end of the sad film, there was not a dry eye, with tissues passed around the room.

Origin and History

Overview

The phrase “not a dry eye in the house” and its variants such as “scarcely a dry eye in the house” or “there was not a dry eye in the House” is an English idiom meaning that an event or performance was so moving that virtually everyone present was crying. It is a figurative, hyperbolic expression formed from two older elements: the adjective “dry” meaning “not shedding tears,” and the locution “in the house” meaning “among those assembled.”

Early Lexical and Poetic Antecedents

The building blocks of the idiom — references to “dry” or “watery eyes” as a way of talking about tears — occur in English poetry long before the modern phrase. For example, a seventeenth-century sonnet that opens “Dry those fair, those crystal eyes…” shows how writers associated drying one’s eyes with emotional restraint. These poetic usages supplied the semantic material that later developed into the idiom.

Earliest Printed Occurrence (1719)

The oldest printed instance resembling the modern idiom appears in a 1719 pamphlet titled A Modest Apology for Parson Alberoni (attributed to Thomas Gordon). The line reads:

“… he laments over it so movingly, that there is not a dry Eye, nor a dry Handkerchief, in the whole congregation.”

This demonstrates that the core phrase was already in circulation in Britain in the early eighteenth century.

Manuscript Evidence (1769)

A closely similar phrasing appears in the diary of John Adams, dated 13 August 1769:

“The whole together was a moving Scene, and left scarcely a dry Eye in the House.”

This shows the idiom was actively used in America during the eighteenth century, in addition to its presence in Britain.

Parliamentary and Theatrical Contexts

From the late eighteenth to the nineteenth century, the expression frequently appeared in reports of emotional scenes in legislative debates, where “the House” meant Parliament, as well as in descriptions of theater audiences and church congregations. In both cases, “not a dry eye in the house” captured the sense that the entire gathering was moved to tears.

Meaning of “House”

The word “house” was long used to mean an audience or auditorium in the theater, while “House” (capitalized) referred to legislative assemblies. Both senses reinforced the idiom, making it applicable in political, religious, and artistic settings alike.

Country of Origin

The idiom developed within the English-speaking world. Its earliest known printed record appeared in Britain in 1719, while an early manuscript record from 1769 comes from colonial America. This indicates the phrase circulated in both Britain and North America during the eighteenth century.

Etymology and Semantic Development

The idiom combines a figurative use of “dry” to mean “tearless” with “house” to mean “audience or assembly.” Over time, the wording settled into a conventional formula describing a shared emotional experience. By the nineteenth century, it had become a standard way of reporting moving scenes in public life.

Earliest Printed Record: Conclusion

The earliest printed usage is from 1719 in A Modest Apology for Parson Alberoni, while John Adams’s diary in 1769 provides an early American manuscript example. Together, these records show that the idiom was already firmly rooted in eighteenth-century English expression.

Variants

• not a dry eye in the audience / crowd.
• no dry eyes in the house.
• few dry eyes in the house.
• not a dry eye (shortened form).

Emotion, Eyes, Feeling, Sad, Touch