Vacation Dilemma

[Huldah]

Good Morning,
I have a vacation dilemma. I, my husband and our two children, spent the past week in Tenessee in a rented cabin (rather large to be called a cabin) with my husband's entire family celebrating his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was a great week; the weather was interesting, the lake was warm and clean (we spent a lot of time in and on the water), and the company was delightful.
I was however faced with a major dilemma. . . .
What constitutes a "DRY" county or city?
The town and county near where we were staying called themselves a "DRY county." Yet, just about everywhere you could buy beer. The next county over said they were a "DRY county." They actually fit what I consider the propper definition of a dry county, which is "they sell no alcohol." I am not in any way apposed to the consumption of alcohol, I like to have some wine with dinner; which is why I even noticed in the first place and was perplexed by the whole thing.
Anyway, as the story continues, we (myself and two of my sisters in-law) travelled to the next county over (now nearly 40 miles from our point of origin), where we finally found a shop called "Wine and Spirits." Since we were three stubborn women on a mission, we were happy to have the search over. So, we had wine with dinner. The men of course were all happy because they all already had beer.
My question for you, reader (if you made it this far) is:
"What makes a dry city or county dry?" Do they not sell alcohol, do they not serve it, or do they ban it all together?
Oh, by the way, the "Wine and Spirits" shop does not sell beer.

Cheers!