draft / draft/ • n. 1. a preliminary version of a piece of writing: the first draft of the party's manifesto | [as adj.] a draft document. ∎  a plan, sketch, or rough drawing. ∎  (in full draft mode) Comput. a mode of operation of a printer in which text is produced rapidly but with relatively low definition.2. (the draft) compulsory recruitment for military service: 25 million men were subject to the draft | [as adj.] draft cards. ∎  a procedure whereby new or existing sports players are made available for selection or reselection by the teams in a league, usually with the earlier choices being given to the weaker teams. ∎ rare a group or individual selected from a larger group for a special duty, e.g., for military service.3. (Brit. draught) a current of cool air in a room or other confined space: heavy curtains at the windows cut out drafts.4. (Brit. draught) the action or act of pulling something along, esp. a vehicle or farm implement.5. a written order to pay a specified sum; a check.6. (Brit. draught) a single act of drinking or inhaling: she downed the remaining beer in one draft. ∎  the amount swallowed or inhaled in one such act: he took deep drafts of oxygen into his lungs.7. (Brit. draught) the depth of water needed to float a ship: the shallow draft enabled her to get close to shore.8. (Brit. draught) the drawing in of a fishing net. ∎ the fish taken at one drawing; a catch.• v. (Brit. draught) [tr.] 1. prepare a preliminary version of (a text): I drafted a letter of resignation.2. select (a person or group of people) for a certain purpose: he was drafted to make a film about the Iraqi president's life. ∎  conscript (someone) for military service. ∎  select (a player) for a sports team through the draft.3. pull or draw.4. [intr.] Auto Racing benefit from reduced wind resistance by driving very closely behind another vehicle.• adj. (Brit. draught) 1. denoting beer or other drink that is kept in and served from a barrel or tank rather than from a bottle or can: draft beer.2. denoting an animal used for pulling heavy loads: draft oxen.PHRASES: on draft (of beer or other drink) on tap; ready to be drawn from a barrel or tank; not bottled or canned.DERIVATIVES: draft·er n.

DRAFT

A written order by the first party, called the drawer, instructing a second party, called the drawee (such as a bank), to pay money to a third

party, called the payee. An order to pay a sum certain in money, signed by a drawer, payable on demand or at a definite time, to order or bearer.

A tentative, provisional, or preparatory writing out of any document (as a will, contract, lease, and so on) for purposes of discussion and correction, which is afterward to be prepared in its final form.

Compulsoryconscriptionof persons into military service.

Also, a small arbitrary deduction or allowance made to a merchant or importer, in the case of goods sold by weight or taxable by weight, to cover possible loss of weight in handling or from differences in scales.

A draft that is payable on demand is called a sight draft because the drawee must comply with its terms of payment when it is presented, in his or her sight or presence, by the payee. In contrast, a time draft is one that is payable only on the date specified on its face or thereafter.

A draft may be payable to a designated payee or to the bearer—the person who has possession of the draft at the time it is presented to the drawee for payment—pursuant to the drawer's directions.

A draft is sometimes synonymous with a bill of exchange, commercial paper, or negotiable instrument.

draft, draught. Regular dressed drafted margin the width of the chisel, also called a border, along the edges of the face of a squared stone.

draft sb. var. of DRAUGHT, recorded XVI and established since XVIII for certain senses.
Hence draft vb. XVIII.

DRAFT

DRAFT. SeeConscription and Recruitment .