draught

From Middle English draught, from Old English *dræht (related to dragan, "to draw, drag"), from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz, noun form of *draganą; see draw for more.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɹɑːft/

  Rhymes: -ɑːft

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɹæft/

  Rhymes: -æft

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• Homophone: draft

draught (countable and uncountable, plural draughts)

1. (Britain) Alternative form of draft in its various senses.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke V:

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

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 36

     “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.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 35

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

2. (Britain) A checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts.
3. (Australia) Ale: a type of beer brewed using top-fermenting yeast.
4. (Britain, medicine, obsolete) A mild vesicatory.
5. (obsolete) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XV:

     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?

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens:

     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. (Britain, obsolete) Any picture or drawing.
   • 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, V.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. (Britain, obsolete) A sudden attack upon an enemy.
   • Spenser

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

1. Britain spelling of draft
   • Walter Scott

     The Parliament so often draughted and drained.

• draught in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913..