the well has run dry

The entire supply (of something) has been used up or is no longer available. Can be used of a literal or figurative resource. A: "I'll take another beer, please." B: "Sorry, Bob, the well's run dry. We're waiting on our next delivery before we'll get anymore." The first book was wildly imaginative, full of interesting characters and plot twists. By the sixth book in the series, however, it was clear that the author's well of ideas had run dry. A: "Tommy's got plenty of money in his trust fund, so he'll be able to pay for it." B: "Nope, the well's run dry—my parents have cut me off from accessing the account."

A supply or resource has been exhausted, as in There's no more principal left; the well's run dry, or There's not another novel in her; the well's run dry. This expression likens an underground water source to other plentiful sources. Benjamin Franklin used it in Poor Richard's Almanack (1757).

A plentiful source has been used up. The word “well” for an underground water source has been used figuratively since 1400. This expression appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1757) and may have been original with him: “When the well’s dry, they know the worth of water.”