drafts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of draft.

   The editor returned several drafts marked up in red ink.

   Sudden drafts from the open window scattered the loose papers.

   Note

   American spelling gathers a surprising range under this plural: currents of air slipping into a room, the draw of smoke up a flue, swallows of water or medicine, doses, and beer drawn from a keg rather than a bottle. The plural belongs to the countable uses, as in a house full of drafts or two drafts of medicine. Beer from the keg can also be spoken of as uncountable draft, with no plural at all.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of draft.

   The lawyer drafts each agreement to fit the client's needs.

   Every spring the coach drafts promising young players onto the roster.

   Note

   The present-tense form for he, she or it is spelled exactly like the plural noun, so context decides which one is meant. Its range is wide: someone drafts a letter or a law, drafts the plan of a building, or drafts players onto a team, and a farmer drafts animals out of a herd. In American usage the government also drafts people into military service.

3. 3
   nounarchaic

   Archaic form of draughts (the board game).

   Note

   A period spelling of the board game in which each player's pieces, called men, capture by jumping over the opponent's. Today the game is draughts in the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth, and that is the spelling to use. Drafts now reads as old-fashioned, which suits historical fiction. Like the modern name, it names a single game and works as an uncountable noun: drafts was their winter pastime.

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