Draft

Draft, a. 1. Pertaining to, or used for, drawing or pulling (as vehicles, loads, etc.). Same as Draught.

2. Relating to, or characterized by, a draft, or current of air. Same as Draught.

☞ The forms draft and draught, in the senses above-given, are both in approved use.

Draft box, Draft engine, Draft horse, Draft net, Draft ox, Draft tube. Same as Draught box, Draught engine, etc. See under Draught.

Draft (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Drafted; p. pr. & vb. n. Drafting.] 1. To draw the outline of; to delineate.

2. To compose and write; as, to draft a memorial.

3. To draw from a military band or post, or from any district, company, or society; to detach; to select.

Some royal seminary in Upper Egypt, from whence they drafted novices to supply their colleges and temples.
Holwell.

4. To transfer by draft.

All her rents been drafted to London.
Fielding.

Draft (drȧft), n. [The same word as draught. OE. draught, draht, fr. AS. dragan to draw. See Draw, and cf. Draught.] 1. The act of drawing; also, the thing drawn. Same as Draught.

Everything available for draft burden.
S. G. Goodrich.

2. (Mil.) A selecting or detaching of soldiers from an army, or from any part of it, or from a military post; also from any district, or any company or collection of persons, or from the people at large; also, the body of men thus drafted.

Several of the States had supplied the deficiency by drafts to serve for the year.
Marshall.

3. An order from one person or party to another, directing the payment of money; a bill of exchange.

I thought it most prudent to defer the drafts till advice was received of the progress of the loan.
A. Hamilton.

4. An allowance or deduction made from the gross weight of goods. Simmonds.

5. A drawing of lines for a plan; a plan delineated, or drawn in outline; a delineation. See Draught.

6. The form of any writing as first drawn up; the first rough sketch of written composition, to be filled in, or completed. See Draught.

7. (Masonry) (a) A narrow border left on a finished stone, worked differently from the rest of its face. (b) A narrow border worked to a plane surface along the edge of a stone, or across its face, as a guide to the stone-cutter.

8. (Milling) The slant given to the furrows in the dress of a millstone.

9. (Naut.) Depth of water necessary to float a ship; the depth below the water surface to which the bottom of a ship sinks when bearing a specific load. See Draught.

10. A current of air. Same as Draught.