draft

views updated May 23 2018

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

views updated May 17 2018

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

views updated Jun 11 2018

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

views updated May 21 2018

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

Draft

views updated May 14 2018

Draft

views updated May 17 2018

Draft. See Conscription.