draught

UK/dɹɑːft//dɹæft/

draught noun: a checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts. Also the alternative form of draft in some of its senses.

Noun

draught (countable and uncountable, plural draughts)

(UK) A checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts.

Synonyms:

checker
(Australia) Ale: a type of beer brewed using top-fermenting yeast.
(UK, obsolete) A mild vesicatory.
(UK, obsolete) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
- Then sayde Jesus: are ye yett withoute understondinge? perceave ye not, that whatsoever goeth in at the mouth, descendeth doune into the bely, and ys cast out into the draught?1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew
- Rid me these Villaines from your companies; / Hang them, or stab them, drowne them in a draught, / Confound them by some course, and come to me, / Ile giue you Gold enough.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Synonyms:

draught-house
(UK, obsolete) Any picture or drawing.
- And therefore, for the whole process, and full representation, there must be more than one draught; the one representing him in station, the other in session, another in genuflexion.1650, Thomas Browne, chapter V, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 22
(UK, obsolete) A sudden attack upon an enemy.
- drawing sudden draughts upon the enemy when he looketh not for you1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...

Also used as

draught is also the alternative form of draft in some of its senses.

draught is also the alternative spelling of draft.

Examples of draught in a sentence

The candle flared in a sudden draught.
Conversely high carbonation small-pack and draught beers may require extra carbonation.
He will shrivel and drift before the first clean draught that blows unhampered across the ruins.”

All 23 example sentences with draught

Synonyms of draught

Forms of draught

Noun
plural	draughts
Verb
third-person singular present	draughts
present participle	draughting
past participle	draughted
past	draughted

Plural of draught: draughts

Origin of draught

From Middle English draught, draght, draȝt, from Old English *dreaht, *dræht (related to dragan (“to draw, drag”)), from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz, noun form of *draganą; equivalent to draw + -t.

Phrases with draught

Words that rhyme with draught

Questions about draught

What does draught mean?: Draught means a checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts.
What part of speech is draught?: Draught is a noun.
How do you pronounce draught?: Draught is pronounced /dɹɑːft/ (UK).
What is the plural of draught?: The plural of draught is draughts.

Words near draught in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: draught (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-draught.ogg, EN-AU ck1 draught.ogg.

Cite this entry: “draught.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/draught. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.