• (RP) IPA: /dɹɑːft/
• (America) IPA: /dɹæft/

draught

1. (UK) Alternative form of draft#English|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.

   • 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. […]

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, 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?

6. (UK, 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. (UK, obsolete) A sudden attack upon an enemy.

   • 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

• German: Spielstein
• Italian: pedina
• Portuguese: peça (de damas)
• Russian: ша́шка
• Spanish: dama

draught (draughts, present participle draughting; past and past participle draughted)

1. (UK) Alternative spelling of draft
   • 1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. A Tale of the Year Sixteen Hundred and Fifty-one. [...] In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed [by James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, OCLC 991895633 ↗: