draft

—draftable, adj. —drafter, n.

/draft, drahft/, n.

1. a drawing, sketch, or design.

2. a first or preliminary form of any writing, subject to revision, copying, etc.

3. act of drawing; delineation.

4. a current of air in any enclosed space, esp. in a room, chimney, or stove.

5. a current of air moving in an upward or downward direction.

6. a device for regulating the current of air in a stove, fireplace, etc.

7. an act of drawing or pulling loads.

8. something that is drawn or pulled; a haul.

9. an animal or team of animals used to pull a load.

10. the force required to pull a load.

11. the taking of supplies, forces, money, etc., from a given source.

12. a selection or drawing of persons, by lot or otherwise, from the general body of the people for military service; levy; conscription.

13. the persons so selected.

14. Sports. a selecting or drawing of new players from a choice group of amateur players by professional teams, esp. a system of selecting new players so that each team in a professional league receives some of the most promising players.

15. Brit. a selection of persons already in military service to be sent from one post or organization to another; detachment.

16. a written order drawn by one person upon another; a writing directing the payment of money on account of the drawer; bill of exchange.

17. a drain or demand made on anything.

18. See draft beer.

19. an act of drinking or inhaling.

20. something that is taken in by drinking or inhaling; a drink; dose.

21. a quantity of fish caught.

22. Naut. the depth to which a vessel is immersed when bearing a given load.

23. Also called leave. Metall. the slight taper given to a pattern so that it may be drawn from the sand without injury to the mold.

24. Metalworking.

a. the change in sectional area of a piece of work caused by a rolling or drawing operation.

b. a taper on a die or punch permitting it to be withdrawn readily from the work.

25. Masonry. a line or border chiseled at the edge of a stone, to serve as a guide in leveling the surfaces.

26. Textiles.

a. the degree of attenuation produced in fibers during yarn processing, expressed either by the ratio of the weight of raw to the weight of processed fiber, or by the ratio between the varying surface speeds of the rollers on the carding machine.

b. the act of attenuating the fibers.

27. an allowance granted to a buyer for waste of goods sold by weight.

28. on draft, available to be drawn from a cask rather than from a sealed bottle: imported beer on draft.

v.t.

29. to draw the outlines or plan of; sketch.

30. to draw up in written form; compose.

31. to draw or pull.

32. to take or select by draft, esp. for military service.

33. Masonry. to cut a draft on.

v.i.

34. to do drafting; work as a draftsman.

35. (in an automobile race) to drive or ride close behind another car so as to benefit from the reduction in air pressure created behind the car ahead.

adj.

36. used or suited for drawing loads: a draft horse.

37. drawn or available to be drawn from a cask rather than served from a sealed bottle: draft ale.

38. being a tentative or preliminary outline, version, design, or sketch.

Also, esp. Brit., draught (for defs. 1, 3-10, 18-25, 28-34, 36-38).

[later sp. of DRAUGHT (since 16th century)]

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