draft

American  

[draft, drahft] / dræft, drɑft /

especially British, draught

noun

• drafts
  plural

1. a drawing, sketch, or design.

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

3. the act of drawing; delineation.

4. a current of air in any enclosed space, especially 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, especially a system of selecting new players so that each team in a professional league receives some of the most promising players.

15. British. 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. 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. Nautical. the depth to which a vessel is immersed when bearing a given load.

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

24. Metalworking.

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

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 a taper on a die or punch permitting it to be withdrawn readily from the work.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

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

    2. the act of attenuating the fibers.

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

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verb (used with object)

• drafts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• drafted,
  past participle,  past
• drafting
  present participle

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

2. to draw up in written form; compose.

3. to draw or pull.

4. to take or select by draft, especially for military service.

5. Masonry. to cut a draft on.

verb (used without object)

• drafts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• drafted,
  past participle,  past
• drafting
  present participle

1. to do mechanical drawing; work as a draftsman.

2. (in a race) to drive or ride close behind another car or bicycle so as to benefit from the reduction in air pressure created behind it.

adjective

1. used or suited for drawing loads.

   These oxen are fine draft animals.

2. drawn or available to be drawn from a cask rather than served from a sealed bottle.

   draft ale.

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

idioms

1. on draft, available to be drawn from a cask rather than from a sealed bottle.

   imported beer on draft.

draft British  

/ drɑːft /

noun

1. a plan, sketch, or drawing of something

2. a preliminary outline of a book, speech, etc

3. another word for bill of exchange

4. a demand or drain on something

5. the divergent duct leading from a water turbine to its tailrace

6. selection for compulsory military service

7. detachment of military personnel from one unit to another

8. commerce an allowance on merchandise sold by weight

9. a line or narrow border that is chiselled on the surface of a stone to serve as a guide for levelling it

10. a group of livestock separated from the rest of the herd or flock

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verb

1. to draw up an outline or sketch for something

   to draft a speech

2. to prepare a plan or design of

3. to detach (military personnel) from one unit to another

4. to select for compulsory military service

5. to chisel a draft on (stone, etc)

6. 1. to select (cattle or sheep) from a herd or flock

   2. to select (farm stock) for sale

noun

1. the usual US spelling of draught draught draught draught draught draught draught draught draught

draft ¹ Cultural  

1. A preliminary version of a book, speech, essay, or outline.

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draft ² Cultural  

1. A system for selecting young men for compulsory military service, administered in the United States by the Selective Service System. At present the United States relies on a volunteer military and does not have a draft, though young men are required by law to register with the Selective Service. (See also conscientious objector and draft dodger.)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• drafter
  noun
• predraft
  noun
• redraft
  verb (used with object)
• antidraft
  adjective
• draftable
  adjective
• undraftable
  adjective
• undrafted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• drafts
  plural

Participles

• drafting
  present
• drafted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• draft
  simple
• drafts
  simple
• have drafted
  perfect
• has drafted
  perfect
• am drafting
  progressive
• are drafting
  progressive
• is drafting
  progressive
• have been drafting
  perfect progressive
• has been drafting
  perfect progressive

Past

• drafted
  simple
• had drafted
  perfect
• was drafting
  progressive
• were drafting
  progressive
• had been drafting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will draft
  simple
• will have drafted
  perfect
• will be drafting
  progressive
• will have been drafting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of draft

Later spelling of draught (since 16th century)

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Explanation

Draft means to draw, both in the sense of sketching an image onto paper, but also in terms of pulling — a draft horse draws a wagon, a draft of air is drawn into your lungs when you take a breath. A cold draft is a current of cold air being drawn indoors. To draft someone into the army means to draw them into service, or make them serve. When you are drafting, or writing, a draft of a paper on the military draft in the U.S., you want to let your ideas flow freely. Then, in your next draft, you can work on filling in holes and edit the language down to what you really want to say.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

draft drafts drafted drafting

Technologies that have entered the public domain through published papers or open-source releases are excluded from controls, according to the draft proposal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The dot plot reveals individual Fed officials’ interest-rate outlooks, but it was only the first draft of a project that was supposed to evolve into something more informative and better.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Nearly a third of the education ministry's budget for 2027 is to go towards pensions, according to a government report on the draft plan.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

White, a second-round draft pick of the New England Patriots in 2023, has played in all five games this season for the unbeaten 49ers, registering three sacks and nine tackles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

He was also working on his new book, Pathologies of Power, of which he had a completed first draft.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Titled “Fiesta” in drafts, the novel is a roman à clef through and through, a story that may have been news across the Atlantic but rang clear as a church bell through the Latin Quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The bill has been through several drafts and has been scrutinised by several Parliamentary committees and the House of Lords, which submitted 1,200 amendments.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

Go do this 10-minute play workshop, then do 90 drafts of it, and then we’ll do a reading.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

It’s the government itself that controls when it releases drafts and final versions of all these rules and regulations.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

Rough drafts of articles and scrap paper with notes were carried back to the Times building and put through the basement shredder.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

The slowdown, however, is not enough to keep the world from missing a pledge to end deforestation by 2030, according to the report, which was drafted by a coalition of research groups and non-governmental organisations.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

Young adults once again face the prospect of being drafted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

During the policing operation, about 140 officers were drafted in from across the UK to help under mutual aid arrangements.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Under his guidance in 1977, the Padres drafted future Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith in the fourth round.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

Just to see me drafted, the way he wanted me to be.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

Many would-be landlords cringe at the legal costs of buying a property and drafting a lease.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

Overseeing such a diverse mix is obviously too big a job for one person so Ellison added yet another flavor by drafting Ynon Kreiz as co-chief executive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Some senators are drafting a bipartisan bill that could be introduced this week, which would likely try to impose a “duty of care” on frontier developers, the analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

The operation also ghost-wrote official testimonies intended for delivery at the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, drafting them under "specific restrictions" that the speeches not mention the UAE.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

His clothes are even more ragtag than mine are: rolled-up shirtsleeves smudged with graphite as if he's spent the day at a drafting table.

From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse

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Related Words

• design
• devise
• draw up
• forge
• outline
• prepare

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