Definition of "draw"

To pull or exert force.

1. To pull (something) in a particular manner or direction.  examples

2. To drag (a person, thing, or part of the body), especially along the ground.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Seals […] throw their bodies forward, drawing their hinder-parts after them.

     1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World

3. (transitive) To pull (a plough, vehicle etc.); to cause (something) to move forwards by pulling it.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • “[…] No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a good opinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it. […]”

     1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad

   • Lys shuddered, and I put my arm around her and drew her to me; and thus we sat throughout the hot night. She told me of her abduction and of the fright she had undergone, and together we thanked God that she had come through unharmed, because the great brute had dared not pause along the danger-infested way.

     1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.; republished as chapter VIII, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927,

   • At the last moment Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came mincing daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar.

     1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg

4. (archery) To pull back (the string of a bow) in preparation for shooting.  examples

5. To move (a part of one's body) in a particular direction.  examples

6. To pull (a curtain, blinds etc.) open or closed.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day.

     1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324

7. (intransitive, now rare) To pull something along; to have force to move anything by pulling.

8. To pull (one's face, features) out of shape, from emotion etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • How long her face is drawn!

     1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii]

9. (now rare) To construct (a wall, canal etc.) from one point to another.  quotations

   Quotations

   • the huge Offa's dike which he drew from the mouth of Wye to that of Dee

     1874, John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People

10. To require (a depth of water) for floating.  quotations  examples

    Quotations

    • Greater hulks draw deep.

      c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii]

11. (reflexive) To assume a specific position or attitude.  examples

12. To pull (a belt or other item) so that it tightens or wraps around something more closely.  examples

13. (curling) To make a shot that lands gently in the house (the circular target) without knocking out other stones.  examples

14. (intransitive, now rare) To be pulled along (in a specified way).

15. (cricket) To play (a short-length ball directed at the leg stump) with an inclined bat so as to deflect the ball between the legs and the wicket.  examples

16. (golf) To hit (the ball) with the toe of the club so that it is deflected toward the left.  quotations  examples

    Quotations

    • […] the golfer thinks, “Ah! To draw the ball, I must be like the old pros and incorporate hand action through impact, twisting the clubhead to the left.” All you have to do to apply the spin needed to draw the ball left is to create a very small conflict between the clubface aim and the path the clubhead is traveling.

      2013, Nick Bradley, Kinetic Golf

17. (billiards) To strike (the cue ball) below the center so as to give it a backward rotation which causes it to take a backward direction on striking another ball.  examples

To attract, exert an influence on.

1. To induce (the mind, eyes, attention etc.) to be directed at or focused on something.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Handsignalmen, where needed, ought to wear a conspicuous orange/yellow cape (like many road workmen) to draw attention to them.

     1964 April, “Letters: Rethinking emergency procedures”, in Modern Railways, page 274

2. To cause (someone) to come to a particular place, condition, or course of action; to attract (a person).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.

     1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company

   • The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.

     1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court

3. To take (air, smoke etc.) into the lungs; to inhale.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

     1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

   • So always look on the bright side of death, / Just before you draw your terminal breath.

     1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

4. (transitive, intransitive) To attract (something) by means of a physical force, especially magnetism or gravity; (figurative) to act as an inducement or enticement.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • These following bodies do not draw: smaragd, achates, corneolus, pearl, jaspis, chalcedonius, alabaster, porphyry, coral, marble, touchstone, haematites, or bloodstone […]

     1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […]

   • Keep a watch upon the particular bias which nature has fixed in their minds, that it may not draw too much.

     1711 August 7 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, July 27, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 128; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853

5. To cause (something); to bring (something) about as a consequence.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • In a desperately tight opening set, the pace and accuracy of the Serbian's groundstrokes began to draw errors from the usually faultless Nadal and earned him the first break point of the day at 5-4.

     2011 July 3, Piers Newbury, “Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final”, in BBC Sport

6. To provoke or attract (a particular response or reaction).  examples

7. (intransitive) To have a draught; to allow air to be passed through in order to allow for combustion.  examples

To extend, protract.

1. (obsolete) To extend the duration of (something); to prolong.

2. To make (wire) by pulling it through an aperture; to stretch (metal) into a wire.  examples

3. To stretch or elongate.  examples

4. (intransitive) To become contracted; to shrink.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • water […] will shrink or draw into less room

     1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […]

5. (nautical) Of a sail, to fill with wind.  examples

To move, travel, approach.

1. (reflexive, now rare) To move in a specific direction.  quotations

   Quotations

   • She thought she heard a noise in her chamber, and she drew herself within the casement.

     1794, Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho

2. (intransitive, used with prepositions and adverbs) To move steadily in a particular direction or into a specific position.  examples

3. To come to, towards (a particular moment in time); to approach (a time).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • As the war drew to its end, it became evident that repairs and rebuilding in the heavily blitzed Greater London area would be so extensive as to afford opportunity for effective large-scale planning.

     1962 October, “The Victoria Line was only part of the plan”, in Modern Railways, page 258

4. (hunting, now rare) To search for game; to track a quarry.  quotations

   Quotations

   • On one of my expeditions, after a stormy night, at the end of March, the hounds drew all day without finding a fox.

     1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 87

To extract, remove, select.

1. To pull out, unsheathe (a sword, firearm etc.).  examples

2. To take (water) from a well or other source.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], John 4:11

3. To disembowel (someone); to remove the viscera from (an animal), especially before cooking.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • In private draw your poultry, clean your tripe.

     1709, William King, The Art of Cookery

4. (transitive, medicine, now rare) To extract (pus, humours, etc.) by means of medical treatment.

5. To select (an item) at random to decide which of a group of people will receive or undergo something; to select (a person) by this process.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Provided magistracies were filled by men freely chosen or drawn.

     1784, Edward Augustus Freeman, An essay on parliamentary representation, and the magistracies of our boroughs royal: […]‎

6. To conduct (a lottery); to select (the numbers) for a lottery; to win (a prize) in a lottery.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • In the drawing of lots, my sister drew her own room, and I drew Master B.'s.

     1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House

7. To extract (a tooth).  examples

8. To extract (juice, fluids etc.) from something by pressure, osmosis or similar.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Spirits, by distillations, may be drawn out of vegetable juices, which shall flame and fume of themselves.

     1705, George Cheyne, Philosophical Principles of Religion Natural and Revealed

9. (card games) To take or be dealt (a card) from the deck; to have (a particular hand) as a result of this.  examples

10. (transitive, obsolete) To withdraw.  quotations

    Quotations

    • Go, wash thy face, and draw thy action.

      1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]

11. (transitive or intransitive) To end a game in a draw (with neither side winning).  quotations  examples

    Quotations

    • The game is won when a player places any of his pieces on the same square with his opponent's Princess, or when a Chief takes a Chief. It is drawn when a Chief is taken by any opposing piece other than the opposing Chief; […]

      1922, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2010

12. (intransitive, transitive) To steep; to leave (tea) temporarily in water to allow the flavour to increase.  quotations  examples

    Quotations

    • "There's your tay set for you an' drawin' nicely this minute, Miss Ethel," called old Bridget from the hall.

      1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, page 207

    • She made a pot of very strong tea, and while she was waiting for it to draw she opened the kitchen door to inspect her garden.

      1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 119

13. (intransitive) To take or be dealt a playing card from the deck. See also draw out.  examples

14. To run (a bath).  examples

15. (analogous) To consume (power).  examples

To obtain, elicit.

1. To take (something) from a particular source, especially of information; to derive.  examples

2. To call forth (something) from a person, to elicit.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • I had thought, sir, to have held my peace untilYou have drawn oaths from him not to stay.

     c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]

3. To deduce or infer (a conclusion); to make (a deduction).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • We do not draw the moral lessons we might from history.

     1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […]

4. To receive (a salary); to withdraw (money) from a bank etc.  examples

5. To elicit information from (someone); to induce (a person) to speak on some subject. (Now frequently in passive.)  examples

To represent.

1. (transitive) To produce (a shape, figure, picture etc.) with pencil, crayon, chalk, or other implement.  examples

2. (transitive) To depict (something) linguistically; to portray in words.  examples

3. (transitive) To draw up, compose (a document).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Clerk, draw a deed of gift.

     c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]

4. (intransitive) To produce an image of something by artistic means; to make drawings.  examples

5. (transitive) To produce a visual representation of (a person or thing) by lines and marks with pencil, pen, paints etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • A flattering painter, vvho made it his care / To dravv men as they ought to be, not as they are.

     1774, [Oliver] Goldsmith, Retaliation: A Poem. […], new (2nd) edition, London: […] G[eorge] Kearsly, […], page 10

   • Can I untouch'd the Fair ones Paſſions move? / Or Thou draw Beauty, and not feel it's Pow'r?

     1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “To Mr. Howard: An Ode”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], stanza I, page 70

   • Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

     1963, Margery Allingham, chapter III, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus

That which draws: that which attracts e.g. a crowd.  quotations  examples

The act of drawing:

1. The act of drawing a gun from a holster, etc.  examples

2. The procedure by which the result of a lottery is determined.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Having spent more than £500,000 on players last summer, Crawley can hardly be classed as minnows but they have still punched way above their weight and this kind of performance means no-one will relish pulling them out of the hat in Sunday's draw.

     2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0 - 1 Crawley Town”, in BBC‎

3. (archery) The act of pulling back the strings in preparation of firing; the distance the strings are pulled back.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • This configuration offered the capacity for an exceptionally long draw – Manchu archers drew all the way back to the point of the right shoulder […]

     2016 August 25, Mike Loades, The Composite Bow, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 21

The result of drawing:

1. The result of a contest that neither side has won; a tie.  examples

2. (cricket) The result of a two-innings match in which at least one side did not complete all their innings before time ran out (as distinguished from a tie).  examples

That which is drawn (e.g. funds from an account).

1. In a commission-based job, an advance on future (potential) commissions given to an employee by the employer.  examples

Draft: flow through a flue of gasses (smoke) resulting from a combustion process, possibly adjustable with a damper.  quotations  examples

(sports) The spin or twist imparted to a ball etc. by a drawing stroke.  examples

(golf) A golf shot that (for the right-handed player) curves intentionally to the left. See hook, slice, fade.  examples

(curling) A shot that is intended to land gently in the house (the circular target) without knocking out other stones; cf. takeout.  examples

(geography) A dry stream bed that drains surface water only during periods of heavy rain or flooding.  quotations  examples

(slang, countable) A bag of cannabis.  quotations

(slang, uncountable) Cannabis.  quotations

(poker) A situation in which one or more players has four cards of the same suit or four out of five necessary cards for a straight and requires a further card to make their flush or straight.  quotations  examples

(horse racing) The stall from which a horse begins the race.  examples