Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:

Watercraft dimensions

Draft (hull) The draft or draught of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel). The draught of the vessel is the maximum depth of any part of the vessel, including appendages such as rudders, propellers a ...

, the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel *

Draft (sail) In nautical parlance, the draft or draught of a sail is a degree of curvature in a horizontal cross-section. Any sail experiences a force from the prevailing wind just because it impedes the air's passage. A sail with draft also functions as an ...

, degree of curvature in a sail *

Air draft Air draft (or air draught) is the distance from the surface of the water to the highest point on a vessel. This is similar to the " deep draft" of a vessel which is measured from the surface of the water to the deepest part of the hull below th ...

, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel

Selection processes

Draft (politics) In elections in the United States, political drafts are used to encourage or pressure a certain person to enter a political race, by demonstrating a significant groundswell of support for the candidate. History 20th century Movements to draft ...

, groundswell of support to compel a candidate to run for office *

Draft (sports) A draft is a process used in some countries (especially in North America) and sports (especially in closed leagues) to allocate certain players to teams. In a draft, teams take turns selecting from a pool of eligible players. When a team selec ...

, selection of players for professional sports teams *

Conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, selection for e.g. military service

Entertainment

* Draft (musician) (born 1986), Electronic musician and DJ * ''Drafted'' (comics), a 2007 comic released by Devil's Due Publishing * ''The Draft'' (comics), a 1988 one-shot comic book from Marvel Comics *

The Draft (band) The Draft are a band featuring Hot Water Music members Jason Black, George Rebelo and Chris Wollard. The band also features guitarist Todd Rockhill of Black Cougar Shock Unit, Discount and a host of other Gainesville, Florida based acts. The ...

, an American punk rock band * '' Draft 7.30'', a 2003 album by British electronic band Autechre *

WWE draft The WWE Draft, alternatively called the WWE Superstar Shake-up from 2017 to 2019, is a process used by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters between the Raw (WWE brand), Raw and SmackDown (WWE bran ...

, a World Wrestling Entertainment program which drafts superstars to different WWE brands *

Draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

, board game, a.k.a. checkers * The Draft (''The League''), the series premiere of the FX (TV channel) television series ''The League'' * ''Draft'' (magazine), an American magazine about beer and beer culture

Heating, cooling, air flow

Draft (boiler) The difference between atmospheric pressure and the pressure existing in the furnace or flue gas passage of a boiler is termed as draft. Draft can also be referred to as the difference in pressure in the combustion chamber area which results in the ...

, difference between atmospheric pressure and the boiler pressure *

Chimney draught A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

, outgoing flow into chimney of gases from combustion *

Draught excluder A draught excluder or draft guard is a device used to prevent cold air from entering a building through gaps around entry points such as doors, windows and fireplaces. Types Door A door draught excluder is placed at the bottom of a door to ...

, used to eliminate cold draught and slow heat loss *

Mechanical draft A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

, incoming flow of air to burn fuel for a boiler or engine *

Vertical draft In meteorology, an updraft is a small-scale current of rising air, often within a cloud. Overview Localized regions of warm or cool air will exhibit vertical movement. A mass of warm air will typically be less dense than the surrounding region, ...

, vertical movement of air, which can be dangerous to airplanes

Finance

Demand draft A demand draft (DD) is a negotiable instrument similar to a bill of exchange. A bank issues a demand draft to a client (drawer), directing another bank (drawee) or one of its own branches to pay a certain sum to the specified party (payee). A dema ...

, a check created by a merchant with a buyer's account number on it, but without the buyer's signature *

Banker's draft A banker's draft (also called a bank cheque, bank draft in Canada or, in the US, a teller's check) is a cheque (or check) provided to a customer of a bank or acquired from a bank for remittance purposes, that is drawn by the bank, and drawn on an ...

, a form of check where the funds are taken directly from the financial institution *

Sight draft A banker's acceptance is a commitment by a bank to make a requested future payment. The request will typically specify the payee, the amount, and the date on which it is eligible for payment. After acceptance, the request becomes an unconditional ...

, or time draft, an order for the payment of money by a banker

Other uses

Draught beer Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as Name Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served dire ...

or other beverage, served from a bulk keg or cask rather than a bottle or can *

Draft (engineering) In engineering, draft is the amount of taper for molded or cast parts perpendicular to the parting line. It can be measured in degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of ...

, the angle added to features perpendicular to the parting line of a casting or molding * Draft (aerodynamics), two objects in close proximity reducing overall drag *

Draft document In the context of written composition, "drafting" refers to any process of generating preliminary versions of a written work. Drafting happens at any stage of the writing process as writers generate trial versions of the text they're developing. ...

, a version of an unfinished document or other written work *

Draft animal A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for t ...

, an animal used to perform tasks **

Draft horse A draft horse (US), draught horse (UK) or dray horse (from the Old English ''dragan'' meaning "to draw or haul"; compare Dutch ''dragen'' and German ''tragen'' meaning "to carry" and Danish ''drage'' meaning "to draw" or "to fare"), less often ...

, a large horse bred to be a working animal doing hard tasks such as plowing and other farm labor **

Draught dog A drafting dog, pulling dog, or draft dog (also spelt draught dog) is a dog bred and traditionally used for pulling a dogcart, or in winter also for sled pulling. Dogs bred for this work have strong builds. Many draft dogs are either mastiffs o ...

, a variety of working dog used to pull a cart *

Draft (water) A draft is the use of suction to move a liquid such as water from a vessel or body of water below the intake of a suction pump. A rural fire department or farmer might draft water from a pond as the first step in moving the water elsewhere. A suc ...

* Draught, an alternate term for a