(a.) Making a shrill, creaking sound.

Rabelaisian Saharan Spartan WCTU acarpous acerb acerbate acerbic acescent acetose acid acidulous air-dry anhydrate anhydrous antisaloon apathetic arid ascetic athirst austere bake baked bald bare barren blah blank blast-freeze bleed bleed white bloodless blot bone-dry brassy brazen brine broken-record bromidic brush burn cake candid caustic celibate characterless childless choked coarse cold colorless common commonplace concrete congeal corn crab crabbed cracked croaking croaky cure cynical dead dehumidify dehydrate dehydrated denude deplete depleted deplume desert desiccate desiccated desolate despoil direct discreet dismal displume divest draggy drain drained drearisome dreary dried-up droughty dry as dust dry-cure dry-salt dryasdust dull dusty earthbound effete elephantine embalm empty etiolated evaporate everlasting exhaust exhausted exsiccate fade fallow fire flat flay fleece frank freeze freeze-dry fruitless fume gaunt gelded grating green gruff guttural harping harsh harsh-sounding heavy high and dry ho-hum hoarse hollow homely homespun humdrum husky impotent impoverish impoverished inane indurate ineffectual inexcitable infecund infertile insipid insolate invariable ironic irradiate issueless jarring jejune jerk jog-trot juiceless kiln kipper leached leaden lean lifeless like parchment literal long-winded low-spirited marinade marinate matter-of-fact menopausal metallic milk modest moistureless monotonous mummify mundane natural neat nonfertile nonproducing nonproductive nonprolific open pale pallid parch parched pedestrian phlegmatic pick clean pickle pickled plain plain-speaking plain-spoken plodding pluck pointless poky ponderous preservatize prohibitionist prolix prosaic prosing prosy pungent pure quick-freeze ragged rasping raucid raucous refrigerate rough roupy rub rude rugged rustic salt sandy sapless sapped sarcastic sardonic satiric scorch sear season sec sere set severe shear shovel shrivel simple simple-speaking sine prole singsong skin slow smoke smoke-cure soak up sober solemn solidify sour sour as vinegar soured sourish spare spiritless