analyses or work products that are prepared but kept in reserve for intense times when additional output will be required, as in, “We don’t need to share the findings from the customer survey at tomorrow’s meeting, let’s keep some dry powder for the next quarterly business review”; more generally the term refers to a resource of some kind that is kept at the ready for immediate deployment when needed; commonly used in finance to refer to liquid reserves or assets that can be readily converted (for investments, debt payments, etc.); drawn from the former military need to manufacture sufficient quantities of gunpowder, transport it, and maintain it in firing condition wherever needed in the theater of battle; powder that became wet from rain, improper storage, etc., would no longer be suitable for use, a condition which could be discovered at inopportune moments