draught

From Middle English draught, draght, draȝt, from Old English *dreaht, *dræht (related to dragan (“to draw, drag”)), from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz, noun form of *draganą; equivalent to draw +‎ -t.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɹɑːft/

  Rhymes: -ɑːft

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɹæft/

  Rhymes: -æft

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Homophone: draft

draught (countable and uncountable, plural draughts)

1. (British spelling) Alternative form of draft in some of its senses.

   Sense 1 of draft:

   She could feel a draught where she was sitting.

   • Senses 17, 18 of draft:
     1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke:

     […] he sayde vnto Simon: Cary vs into the depe, and lett slippe thy nett to make a draught.

   • Senses 3, 4 of draft:
     1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 36”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     “Drink and pass!” he cried, handing the heavy charged flagon to the nearest seaman. “The crew alone now drink. Round with it, round! Short draughts—long swallows, men; ’tis hot as Satan’s hoof.

   • Sense 5 of draft:
     1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 35”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     Finally I gave him a draught, and he sank into uneasy slumber.

   • Senses 4, 5 of draft: 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter iii:

     Much as I wish that I had not to write this chapter, I know that I shall have to swallow many such bitter draughts in the course of this narrative. And I cannot do otherwise, if I claim to be a worshipper of Truth. […]

   • Sense 7 of draft:
     1946 July and August, “Notes and News: The War Effect on the Clyde Steamers”, in Railway Magazine, page 324:

     All the L.N.E.R. Clyde vessels are paddle-propelled, because of the shallow draught at Craigendoran Pier.

2. (British) A checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts.
3. (Australia) Ale: a type of beer brewed using top-fermenting yeast.
4. (UK, medicine, obsolete) A mild vesicatory.
5. (obsolete) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew:

     Then sayde Jesus: are ye yett withoute understondinge? perceave ye not, that whatsoever goeth in at the mouth, descendeth doune into the bely, and ys cast out into the draught?

   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Rid me these Villaines from your companies; / Hang them, or stab them, drowne them in a draught, / Confound them by some course, and come to me, / Ile giue you Gold enough.

6. (UK, obsolete) Any picture or drawing.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, chapter V, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 22:

     And therefore, for the whole process, and full representation, there must be more than one draught; the one representing him in station, the other in session, another in genuflexion.

7. (UK, obsolete) A sudden attack upon an enemy.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

     drawing sudden draughts upon the enemy when he looketh not for you

• (outhouse): draught-house; see also Thesaurus:bathroom
• (game piece): checker (used in checkers)

• draw

draught (not comparable)

1. (British spelling) The British form of draft.

   draught beer or cider

   draught oxen, a draught horse

draught (third-person singular simple present draughts, present participle draughting, simple past and past participle draughted)

1. (British spelling) Alternative spelling of draft
   • 1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:

     The Parliament so often draughted and drained.

There are senses used in American English which do not apply in British English.

• “draught”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC..

• draucht, drauht, draght, draht

From Old English dreaht, *dræht (related to dragan (“to draw, drag”)), from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz, equivalent to drawen +‎ -th.

• IPA^(key): /drau̯xt/

draught (plural draughtes)

1. draught

• English: draught
• Scots: draucht
• Yola: draught, draft

• “draught, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

• draft

From Middle English draught, from Old English dreaht, *dræht (related to dragan (“to draw, drag”)), from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz.

• IPA^(key): /dɾɔːt/, /dɾaɸt/

draught

1. A drawing stroke with a weapon.
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 86:

     Many a bra draught by Tommeen was ee-maate;

     Many a brave stroke by Tommy was made;

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 36