DRAFT, noun [corrupted from draught, from drag, draw, but authorized by respectable use.]

1. A drawing; as, this horse is good for draft In this sense, draught is perhaps most common.

2. A drawing of men from a military band; a selecting or detaching of soldiers from an army, or any part of it, or from a military post. Sometimes a drawing of men from other companies or societies.

Several of the States had supplied the deficiency by drafts to serve for the year.

These important posts, in consequence of heavy drafts, were left weakly defended.

3. An order from one man to another directing the payment of money; a bill of exchange.

I thought it most prudent to defer the drafts, till advice was received of the progress of the loan.

4. A drawing of lines for a plan; a figure described on paper; delineation; sketch; plan delineated. [See Draught.]

5. Depth of water necessary to float a ship. [See Draught.]

6. A writing composed.

DRAFT, verb transitive

1. To draw the outline; to delineate.

2. To compose and write; as, to draft a memorial or a lease.

3. To draw men from a military band or post; to select; to detach.

4. To draw men from any company, collection or society.

This Cohen-Caph-El was some royal seminary in Upper Egypt, from whence they drafted novices to supply their colleges and temples.