not a dry eye in the house

not a dry eye in the house

Everyone in attendance was crying. The term is typically used literally, but with exaggeration—some people may have been crying in the situation described, but usually not literally everyone. His final monologue was simply heartbreaking. Not a dry eye in the house.
See also: dry, eye, house, not
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

not a dry eye in the ˈhouse

(humorous) used to say that everyone was very emotional about something: There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when they announced their engagement.
See also: dry, eye, house, not
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • there wasn't a dry eye in the house
  • for crying in a bucket
  • crying weed
  • shame
  • crying drunk
  • cry for
  • cry for (someone or something)
  • be a crying shame
  • it's a crying shame
  • crying shame, a
References in periodicals archive
These are wacky, witless folks, but when Mom--yet again--comes around the corner to find lost sheep Macauley Culkin on Christmas morn, there's not a dry eye in the house. So, too, in Grisham's tale, even the loony Kranks end up in a teary-eyed reunion that Loretta Young would have envied.
Forget home for the holidays: the best Christmas movies challenge our traditional ideas of the holiday and remind us what the birth of Christ really means in our lives
When he signs off with "Courage," there's not a dry eye in the house.
Trotsky's elbow, Albright's hat