The desert is known as the Empty Quarter because its bone-dry surface discourages anyone from living there, except a few Bedouin who use it seasonally.

My comments:

Bone-dry simply means extremely dry. Dead bodies of animals under the scorching sun in the desert get mummified, as they dry up, gradually losing all water and liquid in the flesh and innards till they are dried down to the bones.

I guess bare bones are always dry in comparison to bones covered with flesh and blood. Hence the phrase bone-dry readily makes sense.

Apt, of course, to describe the surface of a desert as bone-dry.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.