Dry run. A dry run is a test or check performed on a computer, hardware, or electrical equipment. This test is run to test the performance or stability of a particular product before it is made available.
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/d/dryrun.htm
I've heard the phrase dry run being used with the meaning of rehearsal, experiment or test exercise in various contexts. For example: They did a dry run of the demonstration before showing it to the CEO. Practice with a dry run. Organise a dress rehearsal within two weeks of the wedding to ensure... A dry run of the software release will be executed to ensure that the release plan is correct and clear to everybody.
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/546/where-does-the-phrase-dry-run-come-from
In addition to the dried out riverbed, a dry run can also be a dry enclosure for poultry to run in. But for practice meaning, Etymonline.com says  Dry run is from 1940s and there's plenty of US military examples of a practice without ammunition during WWII.
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/546/where-does-the-phrase-dry-run-come-from
Definitions include: To operate in a way that is most displeasing to the reasonable persons point of view; To confuse a situation.To operate in the most inefficient way possible. To cause trouble. To make unclear. Cease progress.
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/dry-run
Link to this slang definition. To link to this term in a web page or blog, insert the following. To link to this term in a wiki such as Wikipedia, insert the following. Some wikis use a different format for links, so be sure to check the documentation.
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/dry-run
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http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/dry-run/
“Dry run” is used in the Singapore Army to indicate any training or exercise done without live ammo. In Singapore, the popular belief is that the term “dry run” originated from usage in the military (of which all male citizens are conscripted to).
http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/dry-run/
Dry Run. OK, when I say “Go,” flap your arms and run toward the edge. Dear Word Detective: My wife has been going through a tough project at work and as part of the work, they were attempting a “dry run” to see if things will work in a test environment.
http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/dry-run/
Behind the most ancient part of Holborn, London, where certain gabled houses some centuries of age still stand looking on the public way, as if disconsolately looking for the Old Bourne that has long run dry, is a little nook composed of two irregular quadrangles, called Staple Inn.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/run+dry
DRY RUN. To practice; a dress rehearsal. 'DRY RUN (to practice; a dress rehearsal).' I never heard it used as a verb, or to mean a dress rehearsal. Originally a semi-official term for practice firing without ammunition, it is slang in other senses, such as a mail-call at which one receives no mail.
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/546/where-does-the-phrase-dry-run-come-from
what does dry run mean
A dry run is a test or check performed on a computer, hardware, or electrical equipment. Dry run means a test or check performed on a computer, hardware, or electrical equipment.