draft

To write a first version; to make a preliminary sketch.

Adjective

  1. Referring to drinks on tap, in contrast to bottled.
    • I'd rather have a fresh, cheap draft beer.
  2. Referring to animals used for pulling heavy loads.
    • A Clydesdale is a draft horse.

Origin

A phonetic spelling of draught (compare laughter), from Middle English draught, draght (“that which is pulled; that which is drawn up, a design”), from Old English *dreaht, *dræht, from Proto-West Germanic *drahti, *drahtu, from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz (“a pulling, drawing”). Cognate with Dutch dracht, German Tracht, Icelandic dráttur. By surface analysis, draw + -t.

Forms

draught

Related

draw

Noun

  1. A current of air, usually coming into a room or vehicle.
  2. The draw through a flue of gasses or smoke resulting from a combustion process.
  3. An act of drinking.
  4. The quantity of liquid (such as water, alcohol, or medicine) drunk in one swallow.
    • to drink at a draft
    • She took a deep draft from the bottle of water.

    Synonyms: swig

  5. A dose (of medicine, alcohol, etc.).
  6. Liquid, especially beer or other alcohol, drawn from a cask or keg rather than a bottle or can.
    • From 1767 to 1774 no pale wine was bottled but for immediate use; only draft wine of all kinds was used in the principal taverns, and it was often very bad, not from tricks of the vintners, but from bad management. -...
    • Another positive trend is the increase of quality in draft cider options. Draft cider has often been, and sometimes still is, considered an inferior product by cider traditionalists, who believe a true cider should come...
  7. The depth of water needed to float a particular ship; the depth from the waterline to the bottom of a vessel's hull; the depth of water drawn by a vessel.
  8. A version of a written work (such as a book or paper) or drawing.
    • I have to revise the first draft of my term paper.
    • His first drafts were better than most authors' final products.
    • Dr Richard Beeching's handwritten draft of his report survives in the National Archives. - 2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43:
  9. An unsent e-mail.
  10. A preliminary sketch or outline for a plan.
  11. An order for money to be paid; the document that states it: a cheque, note, bond, bill of exchange, money order, or IOU.
  12. Conscription; the system of forcing people to serve in the military.
    • He left the country to avoid the draft.

Forms

drafts draught

Derived

air draft antidraft at a draft backdraft bank draft banker's draft beast of draft deep draft demand draft downdraft draftage draft animal draft-bar draft board draft card draft-dodge draft dodger draft evader draft excluder draft gear draft horse draft house drafthouse draftless

Verb

  1. To write a first version; to make a preliminary sketch.
  2. To draw in outline; to make a draught, sketch, or plan of, as in architectural and mechanical drawing.
  3. To write a law.
  4. To select (someone or something) for a particular role or purpose.
    • There was a campaign to draft Smith to run for President.
    • They drafted me to be the chairperson of the new committee.
    • Class "H16" 4-6-2T No. 30516 has been drafted to the Fawley branch and is here seen working a 747-ton test train across Frost Lane crossing, near Hythe, on March 6 [...]. - 1960 May, “Southern Newsreel”, in Trains...

    1. (transitive, US) To conscript (a person); to force (a person) to serve in some capacity, especially in the military.

      • He was drafted during the Vietnam War.

    2. To select and separate an animal or animals from a group.

      • The calves were drafted from the cows.

    3. (transitive, sports, US) To select a rookie player onto a professional sports team.

      • After his last year of college football, he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins.
  5. To follow very closely (behind another vehicle), thereby providing an aerodynamic advantage to both lead and follower and conserving energy or increasing speed.
    • At the restart, the positions of the Mercedes drivers was reversed. Hamilton drafted Bottas down to Turn One and took the lead around the outside, controlling the race from there. - 2020 September 13, Andrew Benson,...

    Synonyms: slipstream

  6. To draw out; to call forth.
  7. To draw fibers out of a clump, for spinning in the production of yarn.
  8. To play a collectible card game by selecting from a shared pool of cards.

Forms

drafts drafting drafted draught

Derived

draftable draftee draft in drafting site draft up misdraft redraft