draught

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
draught /drɑːft/ (US draft)

▶noun

• 1 a current of cool air in a room or confined space.

• 2 a single act of drinking or inhaling.

  ■ literary or archaic a quantity of a liquid with medicinal properties: a sleeping draught.

• 3 the depth of water needed to float a particular ship: her shallow draught.

• 4 the drawing in of a fishing net.

  ■ a catch of fish.

▶verb variant spelling of draft. ▶adjective

• 1 (of beer) served from a cask rather than from a bottle or can.

• 2 (of an animal) used for pulling heavy loads.

– phrases
on draught (of beer) ready to be drawn from a cask.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘drawing, pulling’): from ON dráttr, of Gmc origin; cf. draft.