draft

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /drɑːft/, US /dræft/^[1]

Etymology

It is a spelling of draught,^[2][3][4][5] reflecting the change in its pronunciation, found from about 1500^[2] and in the 16th century.^[4][5] Draught is inherited from Middle English draht, draght,^[3][6] probably inherited from Old English *dræht,^[3][7] related to Old English dragan “to draw”, the source of draw,^[3][8] with Old High German traht “a carrying”, Old Norse dráttr “a pulling” and Middle Dutch dracht, from Proto-Germanic *drahtiz.^[3][6] By the end of the 19th century draft was the established form in military, commercial and many technical senses, and it is now almost universal in American English.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As draught, the action of pulling, as of nets in fishing or fowling, and the act of drinking in one swallow: probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut.^[3] The spelling draft is from 1552, possibly 1543, in the sense of a privy, according to Barnhart.^[3]

Semantic evolution

A rough copy of a writing is from before 1382,^[3] the 1520s in Etymonline,^[2] and a plan or sketch from 1579.^[3] A current of air is from 1768–74,^[3] about 1770 in Etymonline.^[2] A written order for payment, as a bank draft, is from 1745.^[2][9] The drawing off of a group for special duty is from 1703, and in the United States especially of conscription into the military;^[2][9] the verb in this sense is from 1714.^[2][3] The sense of beer drawn from the cask is from the 1830s.^[2] In British English draught is kept for the current of air, the drink, the game of draughts and the depth of a ship, while draft is the preliminary version, the bank order and the conscription.^[4][10]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – draught, a pulling.^[3]
• a. 1382 – a rough copy.^[3]
• 1552 – the spelling draft.^[3]
• 1579 – a plan, sketch.^[3]
• 1703 – a body drawn off for duty.^[2]
• 1714 – verb, to select.^[2][3]
• 1745 – a bank draft.^[2][9]
• 1768 – a current of air.^[3]
• 1830s – draft beer.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A preliminary version of a piece of writing or plan.
2. A current of air in an enclosed space.
3. A written order for payment of money, as from a bank.
4. Compulsory enlistment into the armed forces; conscription.
5. The depth of water a ship needs to float.
6. The act of drinking, or the amount swallowed at once.

Verb

1. To draw up a preliminary version or plan of.
2. To select for compulsory service, especially in the military.
3. To drive close behind another vehicle to use its slipstream.

Adjective

1. Used for pulling loads: a draft horse.
2. Drawn from a cask or tap: draft beer.

Word family

• draftable
• draftee
• drafter
• antidraft
• draftsperson
• draftswoman
• drafty
• indraft

Related words

• draw
• draught
• drag
• draftsman

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins