draft

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A current of air in an enclosed area.
• noun A device that regulates the flow or circulation of air.
• noun The act of pulling loads; traction.
• noun Something that is pulled or drawn; a load.
• noun A team of animals used to pull loads.
• noun Nautical The depth of a vessel's keel below the water line, especially when loaded.
• noun A heavy demand on resources.
• noun A written order directing the payment of money from an account or fund.
• noun A gulp, swallow, or inhalation.
• noun The amount taken in by a single act of drinking or inhaling.
• noun A measured portion; a dose.
• noun The drawing of a liquid, as from a cask or keg.
• noun An amount drawn.
• noun The process or method of selecting one or more individuals from a group, as for a service or duty.
• noun Compulsory enrollment in the armed forces; conscription.
• noun A body of people selected or conscripted.
• noun Sports A system in which the exclusive rights to new players are distributed among professional teams.
• noun The act of drawing in a fishing net.
• noun The quantity of fish caught.
• noun Any of various stages in the development of a plan, document, or picture.
• noun A representation of something to be constructed.
• noun A narrow line chiseled on a stone to guide a stonecutter in leveling its surface.
• noun A slight taper given a die to facilitate the removal of a casting.
• noun An allowance made for loss in weight of merchandise.
• intransitive verb To select from a group for some usually compulsory service.
• intransitive verb To select from a group for placement on a sports team.
• intransitive verb To draw up a preliminary version of or plan for.
• intransitive verb To create by thinking and writing; compose.
• intransitive verb To work as a drafter.
• intransitive verb To move, ride, or drive close behind a fast-moving object so as to take advantage of the slipstream, especially in a race.
• adjective Suited for or used for drawing heavy loads.
• adjective Drawn from a cask or tap.
• idiom (on draft) Drawn from a large container, such as a keg.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In textile-manuf., the amount of attenuation of a lap, sliver, or roving effected by drawing it between rollers running at different speeds.
• noun A body or bunch of cattle which have been separated from the rest of the herd. See draft, 10.
• In cotton manuf., to attenuate (a lap, sliver, or roving) by drawing it between rollers which run at different speeds.
• To separate (and sort) from the herd: as, to draft cattle. See def. 3.
• noun Same as draff.
• noun The act of drawing or dragging (in any sense); a drawing; a draw; a haul; a pull.
• noun The capacity of being dragged or hauled; the yielding to a force which draws or drags: as, a cart or plow of easy draft.
• noun The act of drawing water from a well, or any liquid from a vessel; the state of being ready to be so drawn: as, ale on draught.
• noun That which is drawn, dragged, or pulled; a load or burden to be drawn.
• noun That which is secured by drawing or pulling; specifically, that which is obtained by drawing a net through the water in fishing; a haul.