"dry hole" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dry holes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dry hole (plural dry holes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Engineering",
          "orig": "en:Engineering",
          "parents": [
            "Applied sciences",
            "Technology",
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hole drilled into the ground for oil or gas exploration which fails to yield enough oil or gas to justify the establishment of a well."
      ],
      "id": "en-dry_hole-en-noun-~iV9D9qk",
      "links": [
        [
          "engineering",
          "engineering#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "oil",
          "oil"
        ],
        [
          "gas",
          "gas"
        ],
        [
          "exploration",
          "exploration"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(engineering) A hole drilled into the ground for oil or gas exploration which fails to yield enough oil or gas to justify the establishment of a well."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "30 70",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Stephen King, Needful Things",
          "text": "Ultrasound as a treatment for degenerative arthritis was in its infancy. It might eventually turn out to be as effective as the Salk vaccine, or as bogus as the science of phrenology. Either way, it didn't make sense right now. The chances were a thousand to one that it was a dry hole.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that brings no success or profit; a dead loss."
      ],
      "id": "en-dry_hole-en-noun-ZcjAsTf2",
      "links": [
        [
          "dead loss",
          "dead loss"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Something that brings no success or profit; a dead loss."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dry hole"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dry holes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dry hole (plural dry holes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Engineering"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hole drilled into the ground for oil or gas exploration which fails to yield enough oil or gas to justify the establishment of a well."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "engineering",
          "engineering#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "oil",
          "oil"
        ],
        [
          "gas",
          "gas"
        ],
        [
          "exploration",
          "exploration"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(engineering) A hole drilled into the ground for oil or gas exploration which fails to yield enough oil or gas to justify the establishment of a well."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Stephen King, Needful Things",
          "text": "Ultrasound as a treatment for degenerative arthritis was in its infancy. It might eventually turn out to be as effective as the Salk vaccine, or as bogus as the science of phrenology. Either way, it didn't make sense right now. The chances were a thousand to one that it was a dry hole.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that brings no success or profit; a dead loss."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dead loss",
          "dead loss"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Something that brings no success or profit; a dead loss."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dry hole"
}