draw 
Drawing curtains, curtains made to open and close 
that is, to draw as distinguished from wall-hanging*, 
dorsers, and the like. Inventory of 1682, in Jour. Archteol. 
Ass.. XXX. 263. To draw aftert, to "take after"; re- 
semble. 
She is youre doughter with-oute doute, and draweth 
litill after hir moder. Merlin (E. E. X. S.), iii. 434. 
He is more suetter then is any maide. 
Off that he drawith after that laydy 
Ffro whom he is discended uerily. 
Rom. ofPartenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6243. 
To draw back or backward, (a) To retire ; move back ; 
withdraw. 
The soldier also that should go on warfare, he will draw 
back as much as he can. 
Latimer, 2d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1560. 
Her conscious diffidence he saw, 
Drew backward, as in modest awe. 
Scott, Eokeby, iv. 4. 
(i>) To turn back or away, as from an undertaking or a 
belief ; give way ; recede. 
Now the just shall live by faith ; but if any man draw 
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Heb. x. 38. 
To draw by, to go or pass by ; come to an end. 
The foolish neighbours come and go, 
And tease her till the day draws by. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ix. 
To draw in, to shorten : as, the days draw in now. 
As the days were drawing in, as old ladies say, it was 
advisable to make the utmost use of the daylight. 
Mrs. Chas. Meredith, My Home in Tasmania. 
To draw near or nigh, to approach closely ; come near. 
They draw near unto the gates of death. Ps. evil. 18. 
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. 
Jas. iv. 8. 
To draw Off. (a) To retire ; retreat : as, the company drew 
off by degrees. 
Montpensier, finding no prospect of relief from home, 
and straitened by the want of provisions, determined to 
draw o/"from the neighbourhood of Benevento. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., it. 2. 
To make good the cause of freedom you must draw off 
from all foolish trust in others. 
Emerson, Fugitive Slave Law. 
(6) To prepare to strike, as with the fist, in a personal en- 
counter. [Colloq.J To draw on. (a) [On, adv.] To ad- 
vance ; approach. 
Our nuptial hour 
Draws on apace. Shah., M. N. D., i. 1. 
(!>) [On, prep.] (1) To gain on ; approacli in pursuit: as, 
the ship drew on the flying frigate. (2) Of a dog, to move 
cautiously upon (the scented game). 
The Wilson's snipe gives forth a strong game effluvium, 
and it is no uncommon circumstance for a careful dog to 
draw upon one at a distance of ... sixty feet. 
E. J. Lewis, The American Sportsman (1885), p. 252. 
To draw out, to move out or away, as from a station : 
absolutely, or followed by of or from : as, the army dreiv 
out of the defile slowly : the ship drew out from her 
berth. 
To-morrow we'll draw out, and view the cohorts ; 
I' the mean time, all apply their offices. 
Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 2. 
The train from out the castle drew. 
Scott, Marmion, vi. 13. 
To draw to or toward, to advance to or in the direc- 
tion of ; come near ; approach : as, the day draws toward 
evening. 
Vnto his manoir comyn were many, 
Which fro hunting were drawing to that place, 
As wel of gret as smal, both hye and bace, 
Rom. ofPartenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 621. 
The heads of all her people drew to me, 
With supplication both of knees and tongue. 
Tennyson, Holy Grail. 
TO draw to a head. Same as to come to a head (which 
see, under head). To draw up. () To move upward ; 
rise ; ascend : as, the clouds drew up and disclosed the 
moon. 
Whan the day vp droghe & the dym voidet, 
Thus Jason full ioyfull to that gentill said. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 756. 
(6) To form in regular order ; assume a certain order or 
arrangement : as, the troops drew up in front of the pal- 
ace ; the fleet drew up in a semicircle, (c) To come to a 
stand ; halt : as, the carriage drew up at the gate. 
I could see my grandfather driving swiftly in a gig along 
the seaboard road, . . . and for all his business hurry, 
drawing up to speak good-humouredly with those he met. 
R. L. Stevenson, Some College Memories. 
(d) To keep company, as a lover: followed by with. 
[Scotch.] 
Gin ye forsake me, Marion, 
111 e'en gae draw up wi' Jean. 
Ritson, Scottish Songs, I. 163. 
O cou'dna ye gotten dukes, or lords, 
Intill your ain countrie, 
That ye drew up wf an English dog, 
To bring this shame on me? 
Lady Maisry (Child's Ballads, II. 82). 
draw(dra), n. [< draw, v.~] 1. The act of draw- 
ing. Specifically (a) In card-playing, the act of taking 
a card or cards from the pack or from another hand ; the 
right or privilege of doing so : as, it is my draw next, (b) 
In billiards, the act of making the cue-ball recoil from an 
object-ball after impact, either straight back or slightly 
slanting, by a quick low stroke and immediate withdrawal 
of the cue. 
1762 
2. That which is drawn or carried; especially, 
a lot or chance drawn. 3. That part of a draw- 
bridge which is drawn up or aside. 4. A drawn 
game; the result of a game or contest when 
neither party gains the advantage: as, the 
match ended in a draw. 5. The act or man- 
ner of bending a bow preparatory to shooting. 
The utmost care and great practice should be given to 
acquiring the correct draw. 
M. and W. Thompson, Archery, p. 19. 
6. The lengthening of an iron rod in forging. 
7. The action of the rollers on the fiber in 
a drawing-frame. 8. The gain or advance of 
a mule-carriage in drawing out the yarn. 9. 
Among sportsmen, the act of forcing a fox 
from his cover, a badger from his hole, etc. ; 
the place where a fox is drawn. 10. Some- 
thing designed to draw a person out, to make 
him reveal his intentions or what he desires to 
conceal or keep back ; a feeler. [Slang.] 
This was what in modern days is called a draw. It was 
a guess put boldly forth as fact, to elicit by the young 
man's answer whether he had been there lately or not. 
C. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, v. 
drawable (dra'a-bl), a. [< draw + -able.'] Ca- 
pable of being drawn. 
drawback (dra'bak), n. 1. Any loss of advan- 
tage or impairment of profit, value, success, or 
satisfaction; a discouragement or hindrance; 
a disadvantage. 
The avarice of Henry VII. . . . must be deemed a draw- 
back from the wisdom ascribed to him. Hallam. 
It gives me great pleasure to think of visiting Scotland 
in the summer ; but the drawback will be to leave my wife 
and children. Sydney Smith, To Francis Jeffrey, iv. 
2. Money or an amount paid back ; usually, a 
certain amount of duties or customs dues paid 
back or remitted to an importer when he ex- 
ports goods that he has previously imported 
and paid duty on, as, for instance, tobacco, or 
a certain amount of excise paid back or allow- 
ed on the exportation of home manufactures. 
Abbreviated dbk. 
Sir John. Honour's a Commodity not voidable among 
the Merchants ; there is no Drawback upon 't. 
Fain. That's a Mistake, Sir John ; I have known a 
Statesman pawn his Honour as often as Merchants enter 
the same Commodity for Exportation ; and like them, 
draw it back so cleverly, that those who give him Credit 
upon 't, never perceiv'd it till the Great Man was out of 
Post. 
Mrs. Centlinre, Artifice, i. 
The Irish were allowed to import foreign hops, and to 
receive a drawback on the duty on British hops. 
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xvii. 
3. In iron-founding, a loose piece in a mold. 
In brass-founding such a piece is called a, false 
core. 
draw-bar (dra'bar), n. 1. A bar used to con- 
nect two railroad-cars or locomotives. See 
drag-bar. [U. S.] 
The higher the draw-bar is above the rails the greater 
will be the tendency to pull the engine down behind and 
up in front. Forney, Locomotive, p. 334. 
2. A bar, or one of a set of bars, in a fence, 
which can be drawn back or let down to allow 
passage, as along a road or path. [U. S.] 
They were now stopped by some dram bars, which passed, 
they found themselves ascending a steep incline sown with 
large stones. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 202. 
draw-bays (dra'baz), n. A species of lasting, 
especially for making shoes. 
draw-bench (dra'bench), n. In wire-drawing, 
a machine in which wire is reduced in size or 
brought to gage by being drawn through open- 
ings of standard size. See drawing-bench and 
drawing-block. 
Solid wire can easily be reduced in size by means of the 
draw-bench, a contrivance working with a windlass. 
Goldsmith's Handbook, p. 103. 
draw-bolt (drfi/bolt), . Same as coupling-pin. 
draw-bore (dra'bor), . In carp., a hole pierced 
through a tenon, nearer to the shoulder than the 
holes through the cheeks are to the abutment 
with which the shoulder is to come into con- 
tact, so that a pin when driven into it will draw 
these parts together.- Draw-bore pin, a joiners- 
tool, consisting of a solid piece or pin of steel, tapered 
from the handle, used to enlarge the pin-holes which are 
to secure a mortise and tenon, and to bring the shoulder 
of the rail close home to the abutment on the edge of the 
stile. When this is effected the draw-bore pin is removed, 
and the hole is filled up with a wooden peg. 
drawbore (dra'bor), v. t. ; pret. and pp. draw- 
bored, ppr. drawboring. To make a draw-bore 
in : as, to drawbore a tenon. 
draw-boy (dra'boi), n. A boy who helps a 
weaver in drawing the heddles to form the pat- 
tern of the cloth he is weaving; hence, a me- 
chanical device employed for this purpose. 
drawflle 
drawbridge (dra'brij), n. [< ME. drawebrygge, 
drawbrugye, < drau-en, draw, + brygge, etc., 
bridge.] 1. A bridge which may be drawn up 
or let down to admit or hinder communication, 
or to leave a transverse passage free, as before 
the gate of a town or castle, or over a naviga- 
ble river. Formerly also called draught-bridge 
and draught. See draft 1 . Drawbridges, as applied 
to fortifications, date only from the beginning of the four- 
teenth century. At 
first they spanned 
the foss, joining the 
gate of the fort or 
of the advanced 
work with its outer 
bank. Later, draw- 
bridges formed only 
the inner portion of 
the platform of the 
bridge, the outer 
portion being sta- 
tionary. The draw- 
bridge was usually 
raised by chains 
attached to levers 
projecting from the 
wall at a proper 
distance above it, 
which levers were 
Drawbridge. Chattau of Montis. France. *S^JtLhSdtZ 
their inner extremities, the wall forming the fulcrum. 
When raised, the drawbridge formed a barricade before 
the gate, thus providing a twofold obstacle to the assailant 
a chasm and a strengthened barrier. 
From Iztacpalpan to Mexico is two leagues, all on a 
faire Causey, with many draw-bridges, thorow which the 
water passeth. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 787. 
The entrance to the courtyard of the old mansion lay 
through an archway, surmounted by the foresaid tower, 
but the drawbridge was down, and one leaf of the iron- 
studded folding-doors stood carelessly open. 
Scott, Kenilworth, xii. 
2. A bridge one or more sections of which can 
be lifted or moved aside to permit the passage 
of boats. 
draw-cut (dra'kut), n. A cut produced by a 
drawing movement of a cutting-tool. 
drawee (dra-e'), . [< draw + -eel.] One on 
whom an order, draft, or bill of exchange is 
drawn that is, the one to whom its request is 
addressed ; the person requested by a bill of ex- 
change to pay it. See extract under drawer, 3. 
drawer (dra'er), n. [< ME. drawer, drawere; < 
draw + -er 1 .] 1. One who draws, as one who 
takes water from a well, or liquor from a cask ; 
hence, formerly, a waiter. 
Let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto 
all the congregation. Josh. ix. 21. 
Put on two leather jerkins and aprons, and wait upon 
him at his table like drawers. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 2. 
The Drawers are the ciuillest people in it, men of good 
bringing vp, and howsoeuer wee esteeme of them, none 
can boast more iustly of their high calling. 
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Tauerne. 
2. One who or that which attracts. 3. One 
who draws a bill of exchange or an order for the 
payment of money. 
The person, however, who writes this letter [a draft] is 
called in law the drawer, and he to whom it is written the 
drawee. Blackstone,Cora., II. 10. 
4. A box-shaped receptacle, as for papers, 
clothes, etc., fitted into a piece of furniture, as 
a bureau, a table, a cabinet, etc., in such a 
manner that access to it is had by drawing or 
sliding it out horizontally in its guides or frame. 
As little knowledge or apprehension as a worm shut 
up in one drawer of a cabinet hath of the senses or un- 
derstanding of a man. Locke. 
5. pi. An undergarment worn on the legs and 
lower part of the body by both sexes. 
The Maltese harden the bodies of their children by mak- 
ing them go stark naked, without shirt or drawern, till 
they are ten years old. Locke. 
Chest Of drawers, a piece of furniture having drawers 
to contain clothing, linen, etc. The earlier ones common- 
ly had a box-like compartment above and two or three 
drawers below. The secretaries frequently found among 
English and American furniture of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and still common in some parts of the continent of 
Europe, are chests of drawers with a writing-table above. 
The only form now commonly in use is the bureau. 
The chest contrived a double debt to pay, 
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day. 
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 230. 
drawflle (dra'fil), v. t. ; pret. and pp. drawfiled, 
ppr. drawJiUng. To file by drawing the file 
sidewise along the work, as a spoke-shave is 
used. 
The cutters are backed off un the ends only, their tops 
being merely lightly draw-filed alter being turned up. 
J. Rose, Pract. Machinist, p. 177. 
The com- having been turned true, and its surface 
slightly roughened by draictiliivj, it is then charged with 
flour-emery and nil. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 61. 
