draft

noun

1. 1

   Senses relating to a current or flow or an amount which flows: A current of air, usually coming into a room or vehicle.

2. 2

   Senses relating to a current or flow or an amount which flows: The draw through a flue of gasses or smoke resulting from a combustion process.

3. 3

   Senses relating to a current or flow or an amount which flows: An act of drinking.

4. 4

   Senses relating to a current or flow or an amount which flows: 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.

5. 5

   Senses relating to a current or flow or an amount which flows: A dose (of medicine, alcohol, etc.).

6. 6

   Senses relating to a current or flow or an amount which flows: 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 in a bottle or[…]

7. 7

   Senses relating to a current or flow or an amount which flows: 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. 8

   (Preliminary) written work: 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.

9. 9

   (Preliminary) written work: An unsent e-mail.

10. 10

    (Preliminary) written work: A preliminary sketch or outline for a plan.

11. 11

    archaic(Preliminary) written work: An order for money to be paid; the document that states it: a cheque, note, bond, bill of exchange, money order, or IOU.

12. 12

    Senses relating to conscription or selection from a pool: Conscription; the system of forcing people to serve in the military.

    He left the country to avoid the draft.

13. 13

    Senses relating to conscription or selection from a pool: A person who has been drafted; a conscript or draftee.

14. 14

    Senses relating to conscription or selection from a pool: A system of forcing or convincing people to take an elected position.

15. 15

    Senses relating to conscription or selection from a pool: A system of assigning rookie players to professional sports teams.

16. 16

    Senses relating to conscription or selection from a pool: A style of play in collectible card games, where players select from a shared pool of cards.

17. 17

    archaicSenses relating to conscription or selection from a pool: A quantity that is requisitioned or drawn out from a larger population.

    These drafts left between the 17th March and 28th April. After this there was no regular system of artillery drafts. A draft of 80 was detailed to take charge of horses on board ship as all cavalry drafts were for the time exhausted, and this draft sailed on the 30th June.

    An earlier draft of horses for the 4th Light Dragoons, however,was very different.

    The Light Brigade have got a draft of about 250 horses from England, and we expect ours shortly.

18. 18

    The bevel given to the pattern for a casting, so that it can be drawn from the sand without damaging the mould.

19. 19

    Senses relating to pulling: The pulling force (tension) on couplers and draft gear during a slack (stretched) condition.

20. 20

    archaicSenses relating to pulling: The action or an act (especially of a beast of burden or vehicle) of pulling something along or back.

    using oxen for draft

    shot forth an arrow with a mighty draft

    In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in the U.S., "strong" ploughs requiring the draft of four and sometimes six oxen were frequently used for breaking land which had previously lain fallow for several years.

21. 21

    archaicSenses relating to pulling: The act of drawing in a net for fish.

22. 22

    archaicSenses relating to pulling: That which is drawn in; a catch; a haul.

    He cast his net, which brought him a very great draft.

23. 23

    A valley, or the stream that flows through it: A small stream or tributary.

    Crossing several ridges & hollows & two small drafts of water.

    Hollows were tributary to a cove or another type of sizable valley threaded by a creek or, in Pennsylvania, a “run,” and in Virginia, a “draft.”

24. 24

    A valley, or the stream that flows through it: A ravine or narrow valley, especially one through which a stream (at least intermittently) flows.

    [page 24:] About one quarter of a mile up the draft, the same blue-gray limestone is opened in a quarry on the Graham and Robinson farm, […] [page 31:] Up along a narrow draft heading south-east from the creek at Southern's place, a series of small pits and trenches have been dug close to the ridge […] above the level of the creek.

    Then came the pleasant toil up and down the ridges and drafts of the Knob.

    Now you have left the dividing "backbone", and climb up and down a never-ending succession of ridges and "drafts," as the ravines are called. […] a searching reconnoitre of the next long draft opened to view.

verb

1. 1

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

2. 2

   To draw in outline; to make a draught, sketch, or plan of, as in architectural and mechanical drawing.

3. 3

   To write a law.

4. 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 [...].

5. 5

   To select (someone or something) for a particular role or purpose. To conscript (a person); to force (a person) to serve in some capacity, especially in the military.

   He was drafted during the Vietnam War.

6. 6

   To select (someone or something) for a particular role or purpose. To select and separate an animal or animals from a group.

   The calves were drafted from the cows.

7. 7

   To select (someone or something) for a particular role or purpose. To select a rookie player onto a professional sports team.

   After his last year of college football, he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins.

8. 8

   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.

9. 9

   To draw out; to call forth.

10. 10

    To draw fibers out of a clump, for spinning in the production of yarn.

11. 11

    To play a collectible card game by strategically selecting from a shared pool of cards.

adjective

1. 1

   Referring to drinks on tap, in contrast to bottled.

   I'd rather have a fresh, cheap draft beer.

2. 2

   Referring to animals used for pulling heavy loads.

   A Clydesdale is a draft horse.

Forms

plural

drafts

past tense

drafted

past participle

drafted

present participle

drafting

third person singular

drafts