A dryer is a machine that removes moisture from wet things, usually using heat and a tumbling motion. After washing clothes, you put them in a dryer where hot air blows through them while they spin around, turning damp laundry into warm, fluffy towels and shirts ready to fold.

Most homes have a clothes dryer next to the washing machine. The dryer pulls in air, heats it up, and pushes it through your wet clothes as they tumble. The wet air escapes through a vent (that flexible tube you might see going out a window or through a wall), carrying the moisture away. Modern dryers often have different settings: high heat for sturdy items like towels and jeans, low heat for delicate clothes that might shrink, and sometimes a “fluff” setting that uses no heat at all.

Before dryers became common in the mid-1900s, people dried clothes by hanging them outside on clotheslines or inside on racks. Some people still prefer these methods because they save energy and leave clothes smelling fresh.

The word also describes other moisture-removing devices. A hair dryer (or blow dryer) blows hot air to dry your hair quickly after a shower. Anything that dries things out could technically be called a dryer, though we usually reserve the word for machines designed specifically for that purpose.